Love is Blind
by Nail Strafer
Summary: After being defeated by Star Fox at the end of the Lylat Wars, Wolf O'Donnell is on the run from the Cornerian military. However, his flight from capture takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself having to care for a young kitten girl.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Wolf found himself swimming through a world of infinite blackness, as if floating in space. He could not remember why he was there or how he had gotten there. He felt as if he were without form. He attempted to move his arms, but he could not feel them. It was the same with his legs. Even attempting to blink produced no result. Nothing, nothing but darkness all around him. He wondered if he was dreaming.

But if you are in a dream, nothing can physically hurt you. So why did Wolf feel a small but steadily growing pain in his head? Other little sensations returned. Despite severe numbness, he could feel the vague outline of his extremities. His arms, his legs, his tail. He made another attempt to move one of his appendages. It took a tremendous effort merely to move his arm half an inch. It was like they transformed into lead after he went unconscious. However, it slowly became easier the more time passed. His tail flicked. He felt his fingers opening and closing into fists.

The rising pain accompanied the return of his senses however. He felt a tremendous, dull pain coursing through his entire head. Trying his best to ignore it, Wolf attempted to notice the other sensations. Something wet slid through the fur along the side of his head. Slowly, he moved a hand to his skull, directing it to touch the unknown substance. The fingers came away wet, and he moved them in front of his black nose. Wolf took a few sniffs. A coppery smell came back: blood. Was it his own blood coursing down his head?

He started to feel the sensation of gravity, not to mention a force pressing hard into his shoulders. Wolf began to realize he hung upside down. Why though? How had he come to be here? He tried to open his one good eye again. This time it worked, revealing nothing but a vaguely brown blur in the middle of the darkness. He felt as though he were trying to look up at a light from the bottom of an ocean, with only the faintest of rays piercing into the depths. Wolf blinked several more times to clear his vision. Each time, it was like he'd swum just a little bit closer to the surface, with the image becoming clearer.

With a few more blinks, he realized he was looking down at dusty brown earth. Wondering how he could be hanging over it, he slowly turned his head back and forth. Around him he saw metallic walls, broken glass, and a smashed control console directly in front of him. Sounds began to come back too. He heard the faint whispering of wind outside…along with the crackle and pop of flames.

"Wolfen…" Wolf realized he was inside his Wolfen. No…not _his_ Wolfen. A Wolfen II. Given to him by…who was it again? Andross. He found it difficult to recall the name for a moment, for some reason. Other details came back. He recalled being in a battle just before now. He'd been fighting Star Fox. A growl escaped Wolf's lips. It hit him just then. He'd been fighting Star Fox, and he'd lost. That's why he was here on the planet Venom, in this upside down, smashed lump of metal that used to be the most high tech fighter in the Lylat System.

He'd lost. Wolf couldn't bear to say that out loud, but once that thought entered his head it held on tight to his mind and it would not let go for anything. At least it gave him a surge of energy to not merely hang there. With renewed vigor in his limbs, he reached downwards to the latch holding him in his seat. With one click, Wolf briefly found himself in freefall. He reflexively threw out his arms to defend his face, but all the same he crashed into the dirt with a hard impact, completely knocking the wind out of him. It didn't help that he landed on top of his holstered blaster pistol, which pressed painfully into his flesh. Whimpering, Wolf lay there curled up for a time, his breath coming back in ragged wheezes. The fall hurt him worse than he thought it would, and the sand felt warm, soft, and comforting now that he laid upon it.

After resting a bit, Wolf summoned up the motivation to move, and pushed off against the ground, raising himself into a sitting position. While the wreckage of the Wolfen II covered him and prevented him from seeing the surroundings, he could see light in a hole in the twisted metal off to one side. It was just big enough for him to crawl through it. Grunting, Wolf went prone again and started to slink through the debris. The sharp pieces of metal and glass raked across his flesh as he moved, with the black leather flight suit not providing much protection against it. Still though he pushed himself onwards. If he was tough enough to survive crashing a fighter into the surface, he could put up with some cuts and scrapes. The light grew brighter as he dragged himself towards it. Wolf almost felt like he was crawling out of the earth itself with how long it took. Eventually he hauled himself through the final hole, stumbling out into the dirt. He dusted himself off and rose to a stand, with pain shooting through his joints like electricity. Still, he bore it and forced himself to look around at Venom.

Monoliths of dark green stone stretched upwards towards the muddy red clouds. The face of Andross adorned the top of each obelisk, leering out at nothing in particular but more brown sand. Turning around, Wolf looked back at his fighter. His mouth dropped open, amazed that he'd managed to survive being inside that wreck. It looked like a giant picked up the Wolfen II, crushed it in his hand like an empty soda can, and then casually tossed it here. Tongues of flame licked here and there on the smashed ship, although with the small flames Wolf didn't think there was any danger of an explosion. The area around the cockpit looked mostly intact though, explaining his survival. Alive. Still alive, Wolf thought. What would he do now though?

A loud explosion rocked the ground behind him, pushing Wolf to his feet from the shockwave. He lay on the ground, dazed at the sudden breaking of silence. When Wolf finally managed to collect himself and stand up again, he turned back around. A dome-like structure of green metal stood in the middle of the obelisks, with flames gushing out of it like a geyser. Even though he was far away, Wolf could still feel the immense heat. He had to raise up one of his arms in front of his face to block the light.

Over the roaring of the flames though, he spotted a single ship flying upwards out of the blaze into space. The light silhouetted the craft, showing the outline of an Arwing. Fox McCloud. Wolf couldn't see the pilot, but he just knew it couldn't be anyone else but that kid. Yeah…the kid who'd shot him down. Twice. An intense anger ignited within Wolf's dark heart, spreading through his whole body to the point where he wondered if he might spontaneously combust from the sheer fiery hatred that coursed through himself. He found himself hating McCloud so much he couldn't do anything but stand there shaking, his good eye narrowed to a needle point on the Arwing disappearing into the storm clouds and up into space. He clenched his fists so hard that blood started to drip out of them and onto the sand. Wolf stood there motionlessly for another few minutes or so, staring up into the sky. It was rather like the stone faces of Andross frozen in their scowling expressions.

Sighing, Wolf let his head hang down, the bottom of his muzzle pressing against his shredded black flight suit. He felt like that was enough time to spend stewing in his complete and utter anger for McCloud right now. Hatred wasn't going to get him out of here. That dome that he saw exploding was the entrance to Andross' underground lair. Since it was now merrily burning with the flames and smoke shooting high into the sky, Wolf figured that McCloud just killed his boss. And with Andross dead and his army torn asunder, Wolf also figured the Cornerian Space Navy would be on its way shortly. They'd be looking for survivors, just like himself. He needed to get off world and fast.

But where would he go? Andross' lair here wasn't near much of anything except for a creepy stone temple with monkey statues. Wolf sure as hell wasn't going to go that way. He stroked his chin, looking around as if hoping an answer might come to him. Eventually he turned a full 180 degrees, looking back at his wrecked Wolfen II again. That reminded him. He'd been fighting alongside his fellow wingmen: Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar, and Andrew Oikonny. Were they still alive, like he was? He decided to look for them before leaving the area. Strength in numbers and all that.

Wolf walked back over to his Wolfen II, and poked around the wreckage. There was something he needed to get before he left. When merely looking around didn't turn it up, he started to pick up pieces of metal and toss them aside. Some of them were quite heavy, and in his weakened state he strained hard to pick them up and move them. Several more minutes of digging finally turned up what he was after though. A military case in olive drab laid before him. Wolf quickly undid the latches, exposing an oversized blaster rifle packed in shaped gray foam, along with spare batteries. Wolf quickly collected the long gun and slipped the extra batteries into his pocket.

And with that, he took off walking through the obelisks and hoping to spot other wrecked Wolfen IIs like his own. His wingmen all went down before him and the entire dogfight took place in this one area, so Wolf knew they had to be close by if they were still around. However, the area sure did feel a lot bigger now that he found himself forced to walk around it on foot. Wolf trudged across the sand and rock, the rifle hanging heavily on his neck from its strap. It felt more like a yoke at this point. All of his joints still felt stiff and inflamed from the wreck. He felt tired, hungry, and thirsty, with an echo of pain shooting up his legs from every step. His head still pounded from that impact too. It had been several hours since the last time he'd gotten to have a meal, and he didn't have any backup supplies with him.

Wolf looked up at an obelisk that he was walking towards. It looked so tiny from here. But since Wolf knew how tall they really were up close, that meant he was a very long way off indeed. They were all so, so far apart, highlighting exactly how much ground he had to cover. It would take at least an hour or two just to walk from one obelisk to another, let alone check the entire battlefield for his compatriots. Wolf wondered if he was on a fool's errand doing this. After all, even if his wingmen were alive, what if they'd decided to run off just like he did? He could be walking around here for days and never find them. Those were days he didn't have, between the lack of food and water and the approaching of Cornerian Space Navy.

Sighing, Wolf came to a stop, sitting down in the sand. He removed the blaster rifle's strap from around his back, laying it on the ground next to him. Wolf rubbed the back of his neck where the strap had been digging into it, wondering what he was going to do now. The obelisk off in the distance didn't look like it had grown any taller since he'd started walking over to it. Something caught his eye about it though. Did he see someone standing on top of the pillar, even from this far away? Frowning, Wolf picked up his rifle, adjusted its scope to the maximum zoom, and turned it towards the top of the stone monument. No one was there. Probably just his imagination, Wolf figured.

Wolf got back to walking again, but he thought he heard a slight humming sound behind him growing in volume. Turning around, he didn't see anything in that wasn't there before. But he thought he still heard the sound growing stronger. It sounded like it was coming from above. He looked up into the ever-present storm clouds hovering close to the surface on this planet. Wolf spotted a little speck moving amongst the clouds, gradually growing in size. Probably a ship of some kind. But whose was it? Bringing up the blaster rifle again, Wolf looked through the scope to see if he could spot an identifying mark. The ship looked like a transport shuttle of some kind, with most of the body made up of a long, fat cylindrical fuselage with smaller wings. It was dark, but Wolf thought he saw the emblem of the Venomian Army, showing a silhouetted version of Andross' face.

Wolf smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. He was saved, at least as long as that aircraft saw him. Wolf pointed his long rifle straight up and fired off a few shots, the laser blasts flying far off into the sky. The ship immediately reacted, turning and heading right for him. As it got closer, Wolf saw the ship mostly had white paint with reddish orange stripes running along the sides. Within minutes it was coming down towards the ground, kicking up dust around Wolf's feet as the landing thrusters engaged. With a loud thump, it touched down onto the sand.

A boarding door popped open on the side. Even as the steps lowered, a spider monkey wearing red battle armor rushed down the stairs, holding a blaster carbine in his hands. He ran over to greet Wolf. The monkey pushed up his visor, exposing his hairless face but also showing a healthy mane of black fur.

"Wolf O'Donnell? You all right?" He looked very relieved upon seeing Wolf.

"Still in one piece," Wolf smiled, tapping his own chest with a fist. Feeling his worries quickly melt away, he kept talking. "You found my wingmen?"

"Don't know, I'm afraid." The spider monkey's smile faded. "There's other ships out there looking for them. Cornerian fleet's closing in too. We need to get out of here." He started walking back towards the shuttle's door and waved for Wolf to follow.

Frowning, Wolf quickly fell into step. "Can I talk to the other rescue shuttles?"

"No, I'm sorry." The monkey shook his head. "Can't use our communicator right now." The spider monkey jumped up the boarding steps two at a time, with Wolf running after him. "The Cornerian fleet's listening in for Venomian transmissions, hunting down whoever's left. My name's George, by the way."

Wolf felt a chill rolling down his back. Even if they were all scumbags and criminals according to the Cornerian government, Wolf respected his teammates and he didn't want to leave them behind. Meanwhile, he entered into the shuttle. It was about like any other shuttle: door up front leading to a relatively small cockpit, with the rest of the craft taken up by a few jump seats along the walls and a large empty space to hold cargo. George quickly sat down in one of the jump seats and buckled up.

"I want to keep looking for my men. Can we search some more?" Wolf jumped into the seat across from him and buckled in as well.

"No time. Cornerian fleet's almost here." George shook his head, sighing. "They're gonna be landing on the surface within the hour. If we don't leave now, their radar's gonna pick us up. Game over if that happens." Meanwhile, the boarding door closed up. Immediately thereafter, the shuttle shuddered as it lifted off the ground. A humming noise signaled the landing pylons retracting back into the body work.

Wolf sat there silently, feeling torn. George was pretty clear about the situation. But leaving his fellow Star Wolf members behind…it was unacceptable. He quickly unbuckled himself from the jump seat and walked towards the front of the shuttle.

"Where you goin'?" George called out, but Wolf ignored him.

He slid open the cockpit's door, looking around inside. A gorilla in the pilot's seat turned around to look at him. He looked very confused by Wolf suddenly bursting into the cockpit.

"Get out of that chair." Wolf jerked a thumb back at the cockpit's exit. "I need to find my men."

"No time Wolf!" the gorilla echoed George. "We gotta go now!"

"I'm not leaving anyone behind." Wolf stared down the gorilla with his one eye. "Now… Get. Out. Of that chair."

The gorilla nervously shook his head.

"The hard way then," Wolf reached out and started to undo the gorilla's seatbelt buckles. Meanwhile the gorilla fought back, trying to push him away.

"Stop it Wolf!" George came in from behind, grabbing Wolf around his back and trying to pull him back into the cargo bay.

However, Wolf stood a lot taller than George and had the muscles to match, so it was a little like an eight-year-old kid trying to restrain a bodybuilder. Even with his reduced strength, Wolf simply grabbed George's hands, undid his grasp, and then turned around and pushed George back into the cargo hold. Wolf then slammed the cockpit door shut and turned the locks closed, preventing him from interfering.

He looked back at the gorilla, only to see through the windscreen that they were already up into Venom's storm clouds and quickly leaving the obelisks behind. The gorilla kept glancing between Wolf and the view ahead, almost looking comical as his head kept turning back and forth.

"Turn us around now." Wolf reached into his side holster and pulled out a blaster pistol, pointing it at the gorilla. "Don't make me use this." Meanwhile George banged on the cockpit door, trying to get back in while his distorted shouting filtered in through the metal.

"Look!" the gorilla cried out. "This is crazy! Didn't George tell you there are other shuttles searching for them?"

"But you don't know if they found them."

"It's the best we can do right now!"

"Not good enough." Wolf holstered his blaster, before taking his seat in the other chair in the cockpit. "I'm calling the other shuttles."

"But the Cornerians will pick up the transmission! They'll find us!"

Wolf ignored him. He'd have to get out of the pilot's chair to stop him after all, which obviously he wouldn't do. Wolf started tapping commands into the communicator, looking for the frequencies necessary to communicate with the other shuttles. He quickly started scanning the frequency for the nearest ship, but heard the pilot making a sound next to him. Wolf looked up just in time to see the gorilla towering over him, holding a fire extinguisher in his hands. The gorilla slammed down the bottom end of it into Wolf's right temple, bringing the infinite blackness back once again.

* * *

A/N: I've been in a very long writing slump. There's this huge fanfic I'm working on called Hazardous Contents, and it has a very complicated plot. In fact, it feels like the plot's evolving in my head day by day. Because of that, I don't want to post it until I'm most of the way finished. There are too many little details to account for to post it chapter-by-chapter. However it's hard to keep up the motivation if I've got nothing to post and can't get any feedback. So at the suggestion of K.S. Reynard, I've decided to try my hand at writing a chapter-by-chapter fic. I've never finished a fic when I posted it this way, but maybe this'll be the exception.

I will say I was initially against this idea, but I just haven't been able to get anywhere on Hazardous Contents and I really need to do something to get the motivation back. This might be the answer I'm looking for. I actually wrote and proofread all of this in just one evening, and the words flowed very very easily. It was a lot of fun


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Wolf fought to wake up again, he realized he'd been knocked unconscious twice now in the space of just a couple hours. He hoped it wouldn't become a regular reoccurrence. At least this time he remembered where he was. The sensations came back the same way as before. He blinked his one good eye a few times. His vision started to clear, showing George looking at him. George had his helmet off, so Wolf got a good look at the monkey's bald pink face with wild black fur surrounding it. The curly fur fanned out in an afro-esque hairstyle, making his head look gigantic.

Wolf faintly started to growl and tried to move closer towards the spider monkey, but then he realized he couldn't. And it wasn't just his clumsy movement from after being knocked out. This time he felt his arms bound behind him, plus the clink of metal. Straining against the pain in his muscles, Wolf turned around to spot his hands bound with handcuffs around a pipe.

"Sorry Wolf," George looked down at the floor, avoiding Wolf's eye as he brushed a hand through his black fur. "I didn't wanna do this, but you were getting outta control there. Didn't know what you'd do when you woke up."

Wolf glared at George, before lunging his head as far forward as he could, snapping his teeth. "Why couldn't we go back?!"

George stumbled backwards into his jumpseat, holding up his arms to protect his face. Once he recovered, he rolled his eyes. "Damn man, didn't you hear us before? It's the Cornerians!"

"That's not a good enough reason." Wolf continued to fight with the cuffs, making a racket as he tried to pull himself forward. "One of my wingmen is worth at least five of you!"

George stared at Wolf, not giving much of a reaction to Wolf's attitude. "You know, I actually felt bad about cuffing you, but it looks like I was right to do it." George held out an open palm towards Wolf. "Crap, j-just look at how you're acting."

Even Wolf realized that was actually a pretty good point, so he decided to just settle down and slump back into his seat. It was useless to struggle against the cuffs anyway. So since he couldn't get up, he decided to take the conversation in another direction.

"Where are we going now?"

George shrugged. "Don't really care right now as long as it's far, far away from Venom." George glanced out one of the windows, although there wasn't much to see except for complete darkness and the occasional sparkle of a star. Quickly getting bored with that, he faced Wolf again. "So… Once we're free and clear, what do you think you'll do?"

"I want to get Star Wolf back together." Wolf glared at George. "Shame you ruined that plan."

"Look man." George shook his head. "It sucks, I know. Trust me. I had to leave friends behind too." George rotated his body to face out the window again, as if trying to stare all the way back to Venom. "Star Fox killed a lot of them, and then the Cornerians came in behind them and picked off whoever was left. We had to leave people behind, or we'd get captured or killed too. You know the pilot up front? His name is Alvin, and he's the only friend I've got left now."

Wolf turned towards the closed cockpit door. However, his facial expression remained flat and unchanged as he looked back at George. "Well, I'm sorry then." He sounded bored by the news.

George turned away from the window, narrowing his eyes. "No, you're not."

"So what if I'm not?" Wolf rolled his eye.

"You know," George rotated his body back so that he was directly facing Wolf. "I'd expect at least _this_ much gratitude for pulling your fuzzy ass out of the fire." George put his fingers just close enough together to fit a grape between them. "And you're not even gonna give me that?" George took a deep breath, as he prepared to launch into a rant. "Andross ordered us to save you if you got shot down, but he was dead by the time we found you. We could have just left you behind if we wanted to. Only worried about saving ourselves." George shook his head. "I respect Andross too much to do that. I don't agree with everything he does, but the man treated us right and he had vision. And he thought you were important enough to save, even while he's losing everything. Like I said, I respect him, but now I'm starting to wonder what he saw in you."

Wolf couldn't believe that George didn't see the obvious. "Star Wolf is the best damn mercenary squadron in the galaxy, that's why."

"So how did Star Fox shoot you down?" George shot back. "Twice too, I heard. So it definitely wasn't a fluke."

Wolf's ears folded backwards against his head in embarrassment. He tried to form words in his mouth, but they all came out as nothing but gibberish. Eventually he just gave up trying to think of something clever. "Screw you." He spat out, before looking away.

Wolf expected George to respond with a cutting comeback, a sarcastic remark, or laughing, but strangely he did none of those things. "Wolf…" George readopted the softer, friendlier tone from when he first met Wolf. He leaned in closer, as he rubbed his hands together. "I-I don't wanna to start a fight with you. We can't do that. Not if we want to escape the Cornerians. I know you're taking it hard, losing to Star Fox and-"

"Will you _shut up_ about that already?" Wolf grumbled. His tail flicked angrily.

"Okay, okay." George threw up his hands. "I won't talk about Mr. You-Know-Who and his friends anymore." He paused to lower his hands, letting out a sigh. "Look. Just try to put it behind you for the moment, all right? We've got to figure out our next moves."

"I already told you. I'm putting Star Wolf back together."

George rolled his eyes, putting on a 'here we go again' look on his face. "Good for you, but we've got more important stuff to worry about right now. We don't have much food. We don't have much water. And this ship's going to run out of fuel before long. I think you should forget about St-" George caught himself, then coughed to cover his mistake. "-You-Know-Who for a while. Alvin and I did come up with a little plan while you were out, though."

Wolf went silent, not reacting to the news beyond looking at George intently.

George went quiet too, not sure how to respond, but after a moment took it as a cue to continue. "So…Corneria's got most of the Lylat System under control now, except for one planet: Papetoon. Ever been there?"

Wolf blinked. "I forgot all about that place, until you just mentioned it. Never been there."

"Yeah, and that's why it's a good place for us to head towards. Nobody cares about it. I think we sent a couple scouts there at the start of the war, but that was it. They didn't see anything worth taking. Papetoon's mostly nothing but barren rock and desert wilderness, but there's some small settlements. Bunch of 'em have like two dozen people or less. With your help, Alvin and I figure we could raid one of the little villages for supplies. We may not have food or water, but we've definitely got guns." George let out a friendly chuckle. "That rifle of yours is really nice, by the way. I looked at it while you were out."

Wolf furrowed his white eyebrows. "Don't touch my stuff. That gun's an expensive piece of kit."

George sighed. "Well, anyway…that should give us enough provisions to make it to the next system. Once we're clear, we can go our separate ways. I don't know what me and Alvin will do long term, but you look like you've got your plans figured out. Think you can stick with us until we're out of Lylat?"

Wolf went silent, as he had while George explained the rest of the plan. He was used to being the leader, so playing tagalong like this pissed him off. Although there wasn't much he could do about that right now, he reflected. What else could he do? Put on a spacesuit, step off the ship, and then try to hitchhike through space?

"Fine, I'll do it." Wolf grumbled. "At least take these cuffs off, would you?" He twisted to the side so that George could get better access to them.

George hesitated, looking between the cuffs and Wolf's face, unsure of what to do. He looked to have gotten cold feet about turning Wolf loose.

"George, you said we can't be fighting. We've got to trust each other," Wolf said. "So if you really do trust me, take these cuffs off."

George stalled for another moment longer, but worked up the will to come over and undo the cuffs with the keys.

Wolf gratefully rubbed his wrists where the bindings had been. "So, how far out are we from Papetoon?"

"We've been heading that way since we left Venom, but you've been out for most of it. We should be getting there any time. Then once we're there, we have to find a settlement small enough for us to knock over. Dunno how long that'll take. By the way, are you all right? I hope Alvin didn't hit you too hard."

"Head's still pounding." Wolf closed his eyes and rubbed a spot on his forehead. It didn't do much to ease the pain. "Feel kinda dizzy too."

"I gave you some aspirin while you were out. Tried to patch up some of your cuts and bruises too. You think you'll be up for this raid?"

"We're only killing civilians, right? Shouldn't be a big deal," Wolf asked the question as if discussing the weather. George however quit talking and his face went blank. Wolf stopped and gave him a curious look. "What's wrong?"

"I-I've never had to shoot civilians before." George chewed his lips, avoiding Wolf's gaze. "I mean, I'm ok with killing other soldiers, but civvies?"

Wolf's mouth dropped open. Then he started to laugh as he looked around the cabin for a bit before settling his eye back on George. "I've got to hear this. What the hell do you think we're going to do when we raid one of these settlements?"

"Umm…" George folded his hands together, looking down at the floor. "I-I was hoping we'd raid a village on the dark side of the planet. You know, wait until everyone's asleep, round them up, tie them up, and then make off with their stuff."

"No. No no no." Wolf shook his head. "That's a good way for the Cornerian military to hunt us down. Leaving behind witnesses."

"Maybe instead of rounding them up, we could just sneak into their storage and take all their stuff while they sleep?"

"Too dangerous. We'd make a lot of noise moving stuff around. Plus we'd have to park the shuttle far away from the town so it isn't seen. We'd have to keep running back and forth, carrying that crap. It'd take too long. Someone would spot us and raise the alarm, and they'd alert the other settlements in the area too. Word would get back to the Cornerian military, and then their dragnet would start to close around us."

George didn't seem to know what to say. He just sat there, eyes wide. His hands clenched closed over and over again.

"Sorry kid." Wolf patted George's shoulder. "But we're criminals now. Our side lost. We're the hunted. Can't let the hunters sniff us out. Believe me, I've been on the other side of that. It takes a lot less information than you think to track someone down and kill 'em. A credit card transaction. A phone call to a tapped line. A selfie in front of the wrong place. I'm sorry George, but it's kill or be killed now."

Again, George just sat there, not looking at Wolf. He appeared to be having a hard time taking this all in.

Wolf tilted his head a bit. "I don't get it. When Andross attacked Corneria at the start of the war, they killed civilians left and right. He was pretty clear about telling everyone that was the plan."

George's head snapped back up. "I know, and I'm glad I didn't end up having to do that." He said quickly. "I was lucky to be stationed on Venom for the entire war. Didn't get to see much action until today."

"So you're green then?" Wolf thought he wouldn't like the answer to the next question. "Have you killed anyone? Anyone at all?"

"…No. Actually I'm an engineer, not a frontline soldier. That's why I got to stay on Venom. I helped design and build all those fortifications."

"Hmm…" Wolf leaned back, letting his head tilt backwards over the headrest. "Well...this gets better and better. I've taken two hard knocks to the head, and I'm still seeing two of you every now and then. You've never shot anyone. So what about Alvin?"

"Shuttle pilot. Carried around construction supplies for me."

Wolf chuckled. "Probably should have figured that out on my own."

George raised his eyebrows.

Wolf raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You actually tried to be funny. I didn't think you'd do that."

"Don't get used to it." The smile faded from Wolf's face. "We do need to talk about how we'll raid a village. You seem to know some things about Papetoon."

George nodded. "Yeah, I worked there a little before the war."

"What's the typical Papetoon village look like?"

"Most settlements there are built around a well or two. All the houses and buildings are huddled close together. Each town's got a sheriff and two or three deputies. At least one of them will be on duty and patrolling at all hours, but the others should be in their beds if we attack at night. Sheriff's office will have a comms tower for communicating with other outposts. If we disable that, it should keep them from alerting anybody else if there's trouble."

"That sounds like something you could do. You may not even have to shoot anyone."

George kept a blank look on his face. Wolf couldn't tell how the monkey felt about what he just said. Maybe he didn't know what to feel.

Wolf decided to just keep talking. As a plan formed in his head, he started to say it out loud for George. "So, we go to the dark side of Papetoon. We locate a settlement. We land the shuttle someplace nearby but out of sight of the town. We slip into town under darkness. Once there, we take out whoever's on patrol and we do it quietly. Then we disable their communications. Then we find whoever's left of the lawmen in town, kill them, and then we kill everyone else. Then we bring the shuttle in, load it up, and blast off to the next system." Wolf listed off the items like they were on a daily to-do list.

"You make it sound so…simple." George leaned away from Wolf. "How do you talk about that stuff, like it's nothing?"

"When you kill someone, the first time is the hardest. It gets easier." And I'm proud it doesn't bother me anymore, Wolf wanted to add, but decided not to given present company. "Look. If we do this right, I'll be the only one who has to kill anyone. You and Alvin can just give me covering fire. But I need you to be ready to pull the trigger if we're in danger. Our lives depend on it. Can you do that?"

"Yes, but…" George bit his lip, looking down at the floor. "Those villages have families living in them. Women, children. Are you going to kill the families too?"

"It's got to be done." Wolf said without hesitation, looking George right in the eyes. "No witnesses. Anyone finds the settlement after we're done, I want them to think it was just a random bandit attack and nothing else." Although Wolf reflected that essentially they were nothing but bandits at this point anyway.

"I just don't think I can stomach that," George said, looking out the window. "I might throw up."

"How badly do you want to keep from getting caught?"

"Very badly."

"No, you don't want it that bad." Wolf shook his head. "Not if you're going to let the deaths of women and children stop you."

"I just had a thought," George said. "What if we hit a military outpost instead of a civilian one? Only enemy combatants there. No civilians."

"We don't have the firepower. Plus I bet all military outposts are going to be looking for Venomian troops fleeing Lylat." Wolf pointed at himself. "Just like us. We have to hit a soft target. There's no other choice right now."

George didn't know what else to say. Wolf reflected that attacking a village had actually been George's idea to begin with. Funny how this conversation turned out once the two of them actually talked over how it would go down.

"Do you have anything else?" Wolf asked.

George sighed and looked away.

"Okay." Wolf stood up from his seat. "I'm going to go up to the cockpit and tell Alvin my plan. You start getting ready. OK? Get together some weapons and whatever tools you'll need to disable that comms array."

He went towards the cockpit, not waiting for George to reply. Wolf sure didn't feel like the tagalong guy anymore. He supposed it was just natural he'd end up taking charge like this. How else do you end up being in charge of an infamous mercenary squadron? In any case, he opened up the cockpit door and stepped inside.

Alvin turned around, but then his mouth dropped open when he saw it was Wolf. Wolf raised his hands, showing the gorilla he didn't have any weapons. "It's OK. I'm not gonna do anything crazy this time. Just wanted to tell you our plan."

"Hitting a civilian village?"

"Right." Wolf told him the quick plan he'd come up with for raiding a village. Alvin didn't react to the plan aside from nodding his affirmation now and then. Wolf supposed Alvin did look older than George, and not to mention he probably knew more about what it was like to fight for Andross. "So…how far away are we from Papetoon now?"

"You can see it right now. Sun's reflecting off of it over there." Alvin pointed straight ahead. Looking out the windscreen, Wolf saw something shining brightly in space, far brighter than any of the distant stars surrounding it. The planet of Papetoon rapidly grew closer, glowing a golden color as the sun reflected off of the dusty surface. "I'm going to take us around the dark side of the planet, like you wanted."

"You don't have any problems killing civilians, right?"

"No sir," Alvin smiled. "Used to be a prisoner in a Macbethian prison until Andross took over. He let all of us out and offered us the chance to work for him. I jumped right at the chance. Cornerians worked us to the bone in the mines on that planet. They don't really care if we have accidents while mining or if the food supply is low. So prison's taught me to do whatever I can to survive. This is just one more thing."

Wolf smiled. "Good man."

"I'm going over potential targets right now." Alvin stared down at the console monitor in front of him. Orange dots lay scattered across the black screen in front of Alvin, tagged with names of Papetoonian villages along with their population figures. Alvin tapped in some code in a command window off to one side:

 _Select * from CITY ci_  
 _join COUNTY co on ci COUNTYNAME = co COUNTYNAME_  
 _where ci POPULATION less than 20_  
 _and co POPULATION less than 5000_

Alvin pressed Enter on the keyboard once he was done. Several of the orange dots blinked green, with many of them well isolated and far away from the other dots. "Looks like these are the most isolated and lowest population towns we could hit before sun-up."

"Great work," Wolf clapped Alvin on the shoulder. "Pick one out and head towards it. George and I will be going over the gear." Wolf started walking back into the cargo bay without waiting for a reply.

"Already picked a town." Alvin said, turning around to look at Wolf as he left. "We'll be setting down nearby in an hour or two."

"Looking forward to it," Wolf nodded.

"Same here."

* * *

A/N: I feel like I don't do well when it comes to dialogue-heavy chapters. At the minimum they tend to slow me down. I think it's because I fret a lot about small stuff. I'm not a talkative person and I'm not good at reading other people's emotions in conversation, so I'm afraid of writing the dialogue in a way that's not believable. Plus I have a really hard time sometimes finding and sticking with that special voice for each character. Wolf's is already established for me, but I'm learning more about Alvin and George as I write this. I made up most of what you see just as I was writing this chapter.

So that's why this chapter was a little bit harder than Chapter 1. I feel like I'm really good at writing scenes where characters are alone, because I too spend a lot of my own time alone. But I think I need to get better and faster at making dialogue. It's something I wish I could do without having to sweat so much over it.

By the way, the computer language that Alvin is writing code in is based on Microsoft T-SQL (Transact-Structured Query Language, pronounced "Tee Sequel"). I am a computer programmer and I work with T-SQL pretty much every day at my job. I wanted to use the exact same syntax, but apparently Fanfiction doesn't like that type of formatting and cuts it right out (for example, "less than" signs). So I had to make some adaptations to where it was legible with nothing removed. Here's a challenge: see if you tell me what the SQL statement would be in plain English. It's actually a pretty simple statement as far as SQL goes :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Deputy Colton yawned, his long dog muzzle opening wide and showing an array of sharp teeth. Simultaneously he stretched his arms out. Yawn completed, he let his arms fall back down and slap against his blue police jacket. Slowly blinking his brown eyes, he glanced around the sheriff's office where he'd been working for the past two years now. Ruvac (population 17) was the only town with an opening after he got out of Papetoon's police academy. In this place though, two years felt more like ten years to him. Nothing ever changed around here. The office looked the same from when he'd first walked in for his job interview.

Cheap white paint reflected the glaring fluorescent lights overhead, which often gave him headaches. Various safety posters covered the walls, held up with tape. A sad little potted plant sat in the corner, some shriveled up leaves around the base. Meanwhile, Colton's legs lay across his desk, allowing him to slouch back into his chair. For a lawman it looked very unprofessional, but everyone in this town went to bed by 10 pm. Nobody every stopped by during his night shift, so no one would ever see him like this. He glanced over towards the front of the office, where the windows gave him a look at the street outside. Yes, not _a_ street but _the_ street. Ruvac was basically just one wide street, as it sat in the middle of a desert canyon. The high rock walls didn't allow for any more roads. If he recalled, the town was built this way because the canyon offered shade from the searing desert sun, and a pleasant wind often blew through the passage.

The town only had one of something else too: a street light, just outside this office. It gave Colton a glimpse of the refueling station slash general store on the other side of the unpaved road. However he couldn't see much of it becaus the glaring lights inside made the windows act like a mirror. He gazed back at his own sleepy expression, his brown furred muzzle showing a very dour look. Black fur covered the rest of his face, except for some more brown fur around the eyebrow area. He scratched underneath one of his floppy ears, feeling an itch there and using the reflection as a guide to locate it.

A beeping sound broke the silence. Colton turned towards the computer. He'd just received an email about something. He clicked on the email, seeing that it was a wanted poster. However, he didn't bother looking at who was on it. Nobody ever came through this little town. He doubted he'd ever see any of the criminals on the posters. Nonetheless, he followed procedure by printing out the document and sticking it on the bulletin board. Several other wanted posters hung there, yellowed from hanging there for months or years. Satisfied with his work, he started to head towards his desk.

Something moved outside. Colton glanced again, not sure if it was his imagination or not. He thought he'd seen something out of the corner of his eye, but the reflection made it hard to see anything out there. Colton put his face right up to the window and covered his head above the eyes with one hand so that the reflection wouldn't keep him from looking outside. Still nothing.

He went back to his desk and sat down, turning to the small bank of monitors taking up one corner of it. The monitors showed several camera views around the town. Ruvac's building count totaled only up to fourteen along the one street, so that made it easy to keep an eye on things. He changed one of the monitors to show a camera attached to the working street light, giving him a look down the road outside the station. Just as the image changed, he spotted a dark figure stepping off the right side of the frame, towards the fueling station. It only stayed in the shot for less than a second, so Colton wasn't quite sure if he was seeing things. He narrowed his eyes, looking to see if anyone else would appear. However, the image stayed as still as a photograph.

Colton wondered for a second why he had such an interest in the stranger. It wasn't like the town had a curfew. Legally, anyone here could walk around the town all night if they felt like it. Nonetheless, Colton almost never saw anybody walking about during his shift so actually catching someone in frame was a novelty to him. Out of idle curiosity, he decided to change to the next camera further down the street and see if he could spot the person again. However, the stranger didn't appear again. Colton sighed.

The images all suddenly went black, showing "Connection Lost" overlaid in red text. "What the hell?" Colton checked underneath his desk. He wondered if maybe he'd bumped a cable loose. Everything seemed to be running into the desktop though. He closed and reopened the cameras program. Still nothing. So if it wasn't his machine, was it something in the back?

Colton spun around in his chair, looking through a nearby doorway. The office made up one half of this building. The other half of the building was through that door. The back half contained a few holding cells, an evidence room, an interrogation room, a break room, and most importantly an electric room for the phones, cameras, and power. The floorplan allowed Colton to look down a hallway right at the back door leading into the alleyway. His eyes widened upon spotting the door. It hung slightly ajar, the locks undone. Colton pulled out his blaster pistol with one hand, reaching for his radio handset with the other. He turned on the radio equipment and…nothing. No static from the speakers. That was unusual. Undeterred, he pressed down the talk button.

"Sheriff Hardy, are you there?" He released the talk button. Nothing. "Are you there?" he repeated. Still nothing. Colton picked up the phone on his desk and started to dial, but no dial tone sounded in the earpiece. Colton slowly put the phone down. He pulled out his cell phone, but the top of the screen showed 'No Service'. "Shit…" he whispered, putting the phone away. Cell tower out too… Now Colton knew for sure something was up. Cameras, police radio, landlines, and cell phones, all down at the same time. Sure, they had spotty old equipment out here, but all of them failing at the same time…just by coincidence?

What would he do now? Whoever this was, they'd slipped in through the back door when he wasn't looking, gone into the utility room, and cut off all communications in there. They might still be in the building… He was always told at the police academy to call for backup and wait before engaging unknown suspects, but now he didn't have a way to call for help. He spared a glance towards the glass front door, flanked by the large windows. Should he try making a run for Sheriff Hardy's house to get backup? Everything in Ruvac was a quick five minute walk at the max. But going outside meant going out into the night. Someone might be hiding in the dark, their guns aimed right at the station's front door. The lone street light outside would make him a clear target to anyone even glancing in that direction.

Colton took a sharp intake of breath. He got an idea. Stepping over to a nearby barred window, he gently pushed the glass pane open, stuck his blaster through the bars, and fired a few shots into the air. The sharp note of his blaster echoed through the quiet town like cracks of thunder. That should do it, he thought.

Someone behind wrapped a hand around his muzzle, before something stuck into the back of his neck. A tremendous pain overwhelmed him, completely blinding him to everything. Colton tried to scream out, but the hand muffled his cries and he heard a gurgling sound when trying to yell. Just over the pain, he felt something warm trickling down his neck…a foreign object stuck far enough into his flesh to have cut his windpipe and into his throat. He realized he couldn't breathe, choking on his own blood.

"Good night, sweet prince…" someone whispered into his ear, right before everything faded to black.

* * *

Once he knew the cop was dead, Wolf pulled the knife back out of the dog's neck, letting the body collapse to the floor in a useless lump. He knelt down, cleaning the knife's blade with the police officer's jacket. Leon had shown Wolf a thing or two on how to use a blade. But since Wolf was a pilot, he never got the chance to do much knife work. Now though, he felt grateful the training wasn't a waste of time. Out of all his team members, Wolf considered Leon the most valuable. He hoped it wouldn't take too long to find the chameleon again.

Meanwhile, someone stepped in through the door at the back of the office, although Wolf didn't look up from his work. He knew who it was. George stepped around the cop's desk. Wolf didn't turn to see the look on the monkey's face, although the primate's next words said it all. "Oh god…"

"Get used to it son." Blade cleaning finished, Wolf slipped the knife back into a sheath and stood up, turning to face his compatriot. George still couldn't take his eyes off the dead cop and the rapidly spreading pool of blood. "I guarantee it won't be the last one you see tonight."

George couldn't say anything.

"Good work by the way." Wolf patted him on the shoulder. George's engineering expertise allowed him to disable the town's cell tower, and then he'd hacked the electronic lock on the back door of this station. Alvin made a distraction for the cop by letting the camera catch a glimpse of him. Then when the cop went to look, that allowed George and Wolf to slip through the back door, where George had disabled the rest of the cops' communications in the utility room. Wolf smiled at the monkey. "Couldn't have done it without you."

George looked away from the body, just blankly staring at Wolf. The lupine didn't mind though. George's expression looked a little funny to him in truth.

Meanwhile, Alvin ran in through the front door, cradling a laser carbine in his arms.

"Wolf…lights are coming on all over town. They heard the shots."

"So what?" Wolf shrugged. "They're just civilians. We can handle it. They can't call for help now. Turn off the lights, would you?" Wolf pointed at something behind him.

Alvin turned around, spotting a bank of light switches. He ran his palms over the levers, immediately plunging the office into total darkness.

"What now?" Alvin whispered.

"Slip out the back door. If anyone comes, they'll move towards the office. It's where the shots came from. Meanwhile, we run down the alley a few buildings, step out into the street onto their flank, and shoot anyone we see. Got it?"

Alvin nodded, immediately moving for the rear entrance. However, George stood right where he'd been this entire time. Wolf shook him in the shoulder.

"Hey…you with me?"

George paused, but nodded to confirm. Wolf started moving towards the back door, pulling his laser rifle off his back as he went. He turned around to see if George was following him, but noticed the monkey looking at something on the wall.

"Come on!" Wolf hissed.

"Just a sec…" George whispered back, waving a hand at him. "Be with you in a sec."

Sighing, Wolf stepped into the alleyway. A line of buildings ran along one side of the pathway, the backsides of the structures packed with dumpsters, trashcans, and various abandoned bits of scrap. On the other side a sheer rock wall loomed above them, the town backed right up against the cliff. Wolf glanced back and forth, but saw no one in the passage except Alvin, crouched behind an old metal barrel. After a moment, George finally joined them, slipping something into his pocket. As soon as he did that though, he brought out his own laser blaster.

Voices could be heard on the other side of the buildings, coming from the town's only street. Wolf put a finger to his lips, then waved for the two of them to follow him. He kneeled down and started crouch walking through the alley. Flashlights beams from the street danced around in the gaps between buildings, briefly attacking the darkness of the alleyway. Wolf paused at the first gap, sparing a glance at the road.

Looked like the whole town was up. He caught a glimpse of a tan coyote wearing a wide brimmed hat, standing on the dusty street. Over a white T shirt he wore a rumpled brown jacket with a gold star, looking like it'd been put on in haste after waking up. The coyote brandished a small blaster pistol like the cop inside, talking to the other townsfolk gathered about. Wolf caught some snippets here and there.

"You hear the shots?"

"Why are the lights off in the station?"

"Seen anybody?"

Sounded like everyone was frightened and confused, so they'd be easy pickings. However, Wolf noted that some of the townsfolk brought their own weapons. Nothing advanced or military-like though. Looked like mostly kinetic weapons. One of them, a cougar, even had a primitive pump action shotgun resting against his shoulder, the barrel pointed at the starry night sky.

When the flashlight beams turned away from the alley, Wolf waved for the other two to follow. They walked behind a post office, then held position behind a little diner. The flashlight beams didn't come this far. Wolf waved for them to step between the diner and the next building over, a flower shop. They crept up through the passage towards the street, moving slower and lower as the corner approached. Wolf spared one more glance out onto the dusty road.

It looked like about seven or eight people total, all of them male. One sheriff, plus three or four civilians with weapons in hand, the rest unarmed. They stood around under the street light near the sheriff's office, unsure about what to do. Wolf did though. He turned back to his compatriots. While Alvin appeared ready to jump into action, George hid behind Alvin, the laser rifle audibly trembling in his arms.

"Okay," Wolf whispered. "I'll shoot the sheriff first. You two target anyone who's got a gun. After that, we hunt down whoever's left. Then we loot the town and get out of here. Got it?"

Alvin nodded immediately, while George looked at Wolf as if he'd been asked to eat a still beating heart.

"George? Are you with us?"

"I-I don't wanna do this. You said I wouldn't have to shoot anyone." The rifle trembled in his hands as he held it close. His eyes darted about, avoiding Wolf's eyes. "You lied."

"I said you wouldn't have to do it if everything went right. But that cop shooting off his gun ruined that. Now we're on plan B. We need to hit these guys fast and hard before they figure out what's going on. When I say three, I need you to jump out from behind this building with me and Alvin, and start shooting anyone you see. Can you do that?"

"I-I don't think I can…"

Alvin chose this moment to step in. "George, man… Look, if you don't shoot with us, one of them might get a shot off and kill me. It's like Wolf said back on the ship. Kill or be killed now. I'm the only friend you've got left now after Venom. You wanna lose me too? We all gotta be working together."

George went quiet, looking Alvin in the eyes. The blaster shook noticeably less in George's hands, so maybe Alvin's words were sinking in.

Wolf's sensitive, pointed ears rotated backwards, picking up something he didn't want to hear.

"Hey…I think someone's talking over there, behind May's diner…"

"Get to cover boys…"

They'd been made. Wolf tapped the two primates on the shoulders, putting a finger to his mouth again. He briefly pointed at the two of them, and then waved his hands over the ground. _Be quiet. Stay here._ He hoped George understood the sign language, although maybe Alvin could help him. Meanwhile, Wolf crept back into the alleyway, heading back towards the sheriff's office. As he came around the other side of the diner's rear, he spotted the coyote sheriff creeping up towards Alvin's and George's position, weapon drawn. Since he wasn't looking, Wolf brought his rifle to bear, resting the scope's sights just between the sheriff's left eye and left ear. He squeezed the trigger. With a sharp crack, the sheriff toppled over like a ragdoll, the hat flying off of his head as if thrown like a Frisbee.

"Open fire!" Wolf cried out.

He rushed up between the diner and the post office, hearing shots from the other side of the diner. At least one of the monkeys was helping him out. The cougar's shotgun answered back with a deep boom, followed by the distinctive racking sound of the pump. Wolf quickly reached the street and slid up against the front corner of the post office, poking his rifle out first before revealing his body. Wolf spotted the cougar over by the refueling station, crouched behind a sign advertising fuel prices, his gun pointed towards Alvin's and George's position. That left his flank wide open for Wolf. Another quick snap of the rifle's trigger, and the cougar went down.

"There's two of them!" One of the civilians cried out. "One behind the post office!"

Bullets started coming down on him, the projectiles kicking up dust and sparks as they struck the wall he hid behind. Wolf ducked back. Getting really bad really fast, Wolf thought. He didn't expect civilians to put up a fight like this, especially not after their sheriff got killed. And bullets too… People around here were probably too dirt poor to have proper lasers.

Anyway, he wasn't going to get a shot off from there, so Wolf decided to relocate again. He turned back to the alleyway and…face to face with the barrel of a pistol, pointed right between his eyes.

* * *

A/N: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I had several ideas for how it would go, but eventually decided to settle on this one. One of my biggest obstacles when it comes to writing is overthinking stuff and fretting too much about trying to make the story "perfect", if such a thing is possible. I feel like it's more important to keep up the posting so that my story and my name are out there, and you guys don't lose interest.

I actually took inspiration for this approach from my Sonic the Hedgehog text roleplaying days. I don't know if you guys have ever done text roleplays, but basically imagine writing a story with friends and just making it up as you go. That's essentially what it is. It's very loose and unstructured, and I think it's a very good writing exercise because it teaches you to be flexible and spontaneous with ideas. Me and my old roleplaying buddies came up with some really fun stories this way. I miss it every now and then. You guys should try text roleplaying if you get the chance, because I think it'll make you better writers.

Now, even though I had mixed feelings about the chapter itself, I feel like most of it was easy to write once I had my ideas straight. I consider that a good sign, because it feels like my best ideas flow onto the page easily. Just hope I don't write myself into a corner here. That last bit was one of those spontaneous ideas I was talking about in the last paragraph :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Wolf found it hard to take his good eye off of the pistol's barrel. He could see the bullet inside the chamber, just waiting to blow his head off. Looking around the gun, he eyed the wielder. It was another coyote, dressed like the sheriff in a police jacket. The gold nametag read 'Wilson'. If looks could kill, the coyote's death glare would have melted Wolf's face instantly. The pistol shook in the canine's hands.

"You killed my brother." Wilson wanted to pull the trigger, but his oaths as a lawman held him back. "Put that rifle down."

Wolf raised his hands, holding the rifle in one hand. He moved slowly to give himself time to think about his next move. While the cop had Wolf at gunpoint, he was also emotional and on edge. Maybe he could take advantage of that… Wolf heard footsteps coming from the alleyway behind the cop. Wilson turned his head to look. Now or never.

Wolf dropped the rifle, ducked underneath the line of fire, and then lunged at the policeman. The cop turned around, but it was too late. Wolf sprung upwards to Wilson's right, snatching his left arm around the cop's gun arm. Wolf didn't stop there, as he used his right hand to chop down hard on the wrist. The coyote howled out in pain, opening his palm. The gun slipped from his grasp, landing in the dirt at their feet. Wolf kicked it aside, out of reach of both of them.

The cop quickly withdrew his injured hand and jumped backward, separating the two of them for a moment. No matter though. Wolf grinned, as he pulled the knife out of the sheath on his shoulder. The blade twinkled in the dim light of the street lamp. Wilson didn't care though. Fire burned in his amber eyes. "I don't care what the judge says. If I have to, I'mma kill your ass!"

Wolf chuckled, considering he was bigger than this coyote by at least half. It was just the nature of their species. Plus the cop had no weapon now. "What're you gonna do now?"

Wolf jumped forward, aiming a knife thrust towards the cop's chest. To his surprise, Wilson spun to the side, his smaller size allowing him to move much faster than Wolf. The cop wrapped both of his hands around Wolf's knife arm. It was at that moment Wolf realized he had screwed up bad. Now with Wolf's arm under his control, Wilson brought a hand around the back of Wolf's head and pushed hard, using the lupine's bulk and momentum against him. The lupine felt himself being hurled forwards, and saw the sandy ground rushing up at him fast. He went down face first into the dirt. Stars in his eye, Wolf tried to get up, only to feel the cop jump on his back and press his pistol's barrel against his back.

"You stay right where you are, you sunovabitch. You killed Owen. Try any more shit and I blow your goddamn head off!" The cop grabbed for Wolf's hand and slapped a handcuff over it. He dragged Wolf's other hand over and put a cuff over that too.

Rather than being afraid, Wolf felt pissed off. He'd survived an entire war spanning the Lylat System, shot down so many Cornerian fighters he'd completely lost count, and he was the right hand of the formerly most powerful man in the galaxy… Now some small-time cop in a flea-bitten town on the ass end of the galaxy had just knocked him flat on the ground and was about to drag him off to hillbilly jail.

"Oh no…" Someone whispered, the voice coming from the direction of the alleyway. Wolf wondered who it was, but then remembered the footsteps. He looked up to see George peering around the corner, pointing his laser carbine at the cop's head. Despite having the upper hand, George looked like a scared little mouse. The weapon quivered in his hands, the monkey's breath coming in short gasps.

"George, shoot him!" Wolf called out.

George glanced at Wolf, his eyes switching back and forth between him and Wilson. In the distance, more gunfire could be heard. Sounded like Alvin was keeping the rest of the armed civilians busy. It was just the three of them for now. Wolf couldn't tell who was winning the distant battle from the sounds. They needed to break this stalemate and fast.

"What are you waiting for?" Wolf shouted to George. "Do it! He's gonna kill me if you don't'!"

"I…I can't…"

"I'll make you a deal son," the cop said. "Ya'll look like you're from Venom, with all that fancy military gear. If ya give up and you let me arrest you all, I'll make sure the judge goes easy on you."

"Don't listen to him!" Wolf called out. "He's gonna tell the judge to throw the book at you, same as me. I can see it in his eyes. He wants vengeance."

"Goddamn you, I've got respect for the law!" The coyote grabbed Wolf by one of his pointy ears and pulled backwards. The lupine closed his eyes and cried out, while the cop screamed directly into the ear. "That's the only reason you're alive right now, you mangy wolf!" He slammed Wolf's head back into the dirt.

Sighing, the coyote looked back up at George. "Kid, I can see it in your eyes. You're not a killer." Compared to the harsh tone he had for Wolf, Wilson slipped into a more relaxed tone. He was speaking as if he'd known George all his life. The coyote's peculiar accent made it all the more soothing. The transition was shocking, probably from years of police training. "You don't want to shoot me. You don't have to. I swear if you come quietly, I'll make sure the judge knows about it. That's the best possible way this is going to end. What do you think?"

While Wolf couldn't see much through the stars in his eye, he could see George slightly lowering the carbine. _You're not a killer._ Those words described George in a literal sense, and Wolf imagined they resonated strongly with him. George wanted to avoid prison, but he also wanted to keep his hands clean. But he was going to lose one of those things right now.

Wolf needed to convince George the first thing was more important. "George, you're gonna end up in jail one way or another if you do what he says. They'll send you to military prison. It's nothing like ordinary prison. You think Venom's bad? I bet you the prison will be on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere somewhere. And you're Venomian. You'll be on the lowest level of the food chain. Everyone's gonna treat you like scum. You'll get beat up by the other prisoners, and the guards won't care. The guards will only care if they can get you in trouble so they can beat you up too. That's it. That's all it'll be for years or decades, and then you die. Assuming someone in prison doesn't murder you first. But if you just pull that trigger right now—"

"Shut up!" Wilson decked Wolf across the back of the head with his pistol. "You keep talkin' like that and I will shoot you right now!"

Wolf closed his eye, gritting his teeth from the pain. He looked back at George. Notably the monkey had raised his rifle up again. Wolf supposed he'd done that because he was afraid the cop really was going to shoot Wolf right there. The lupine breathed in sharply, as an idea struck him. Wolf would be gambling his life, but talking looked like it wouldn't end this standoff.

Wolf started to viciously struggle, attempting to get up off the ground. As expected, the pistol was pressed against the back of his neck again. " **I will shoot if you don't stop!** " Wilson bellowed.

But Wolf ignored him, still trying to get up. George trembled, the rifle still pointed at the cop's head. Come on kid, shoot, Wolf thought. Don't let me die. You've got to shoot him! Shoot him now!

A bright flash of red light filled Wolf's vision, blinding him. He could feel the scorched fur on the side of his face. But he was alive. Wilson had quit moving, lying motionless on Wolf's back. The lupine didn't need to look to know what had happened. Instead, when his vision returned, he looked to see how George was doing. The monkey leaned against the nearby wall of the post office, the laser rifle on the ground at his feet. He was crying his eyes out.

Regrettable that Wolf had to break his promise to George, but he'd worry about it later. Wolf could still hear gunfire in the distance. They needed to hurry up and help Alvin. "George… You need to uncuff me." Despite having his hands bound, Wolf tried to worm his way out from underneath the dead weight of Wilson.

George didn't respond, unable to look in Wolf's direction. Perhaps he could not bear to look at his very first kill. Sometimes Wolf forgot how hard it was to kill the first time, even when necessary. Unexpectedly, the sight of George crying touched Wolf's heart. He didn't like that George had to be put in this situation.

"Help me," Wolf repeated. George didn't move from his spot. Wolf tried a different tactic. "Alvin's out there. If we don't hurry up, he could die."

This finally got George to look Wolf's way. "Okay…I get it," he said through the tears. The monkey hurried over, gently pushing Wilson's body off of Wolf while trying not to look at it.

Free of the weight, Wolf rolled over onto his back and rose to his knees, his hands still cuffed behind him. "You'll have to get the keys off his body. I can't fight like this."

George looked at Wolf with disgust, not wanting to touch the body again. Nonetheless, the desire to hurry and help Alvin won out. He started searching the cop's pockets for his keys, and picked them off the utility belt a moment later. Second time today I've been handcuffed, Wolf reflected. After George uncuffed him, he went over to where he'd dropped his laser rifle and retrieved it, brushing his hand over the metals and plastics to remove the dust. It was then that Wolf noticed something. The shooting had stopped. Who won the battle?

Wolf waved for George to follow him into the alley behind the buildings, putting a finger to his lips to signal silence. Looking dazed by the whole thing, George picked up his rifle and walked after Wolf. The kid wasn't up for any more fighting, looking like he was just running on auto-pilot. Although Wolf supposed it didn't matter, now that he was able to fight again. Wolf considered thanking George for saving him, but decided not to. He thought that might make George feel worse instead. They crept through the alleyway running behind the diner and the flower shop, listening for any more sounds.

A dark silhouette stepped out into the alleyway from between one of the buildings. However, he held his hands up. "It's OK guys!" That was Alvin's voice. "I got the rest of them. Are you two all right?"

The gorilla walked closer, allowing him to get a better look at his companions. He smiled at Wolf, but then spotted George standing in the back, still sniffling from what he'd just done. "Are you OK, Geroge?" Alvin asked.

George didn't respond, apparently still beating himself up emotionally. Wolf answered for him. "He's killed someone for the first time."

Alvin raised his eyebrows. "Is that so?" Alvin looked at George again, and then back at Wolf.

"I'm sorry," Wolf sighed, looking down at the ground. "I made a stupid mistake. One of the cops caught me, and George had to kill him to save me. If I'd just been more careful, he wouldn't have had to do it."

Alvin walked closer to Wolf so he could whisper. "Probably for the best. I bet this won't be our last fight. We can't have him choking up on us again. He's got to get over his fear of killing."

Wolf spared a glance back at George, who was still lost in his own little world of sorrow over there. "I thought I'd be happy about him finally doing it, but I think I was wrong. There's no going back for him now. He's a killer like us."

"That's strange, coming from you," Alvin frowned.

Wolf decided to ignore that. "I guess it's safe to bring the shuttle here and start packing up. Let's head that way."

Wolf heard the sound of a machine starting in the distance. It sounded like a car's engine. His ears rotated on his head, trying to identify the sound's location. The sound of tires crunching on gravel joined the engine's noise. Someone was trying to leave the town. If they got away, they might warn others about what happened here.

"Come on!" Wolf touched Alvin on the shoulder, waving for him to follow as he ran. The two of them dashed out into the town's lone street.

Headlight beams could be seen coming out from behind one of the houses. A dark green pickup truck roared out from behind the house, kicking up dust as it drove straight at them. Wolf started firing at the driver's side of the cab, hoping to take him out and stop the vehicle. Alvin joined in as well. Laser marks started popping up all over the body work and the glass. One of the headlights shattered. The driver pulled the handbrake, spinning the truck around 180 degrees. Wolf and Alvin ran towards it, firing their weapons as they went. The rear tires of the truck spun hard, spitting up dust and grit as they tried to regain traction. The truck sped off the other way until it was out of range of their weapons, leaving only the red tail lights visible in the distance.

"Shit…" Wolf cursed, lowering his weapon.

Alvin stepped next to him, holding his carbine one handed and leaned against his shoulder. "Nothing we can do about it now. We've just got to hurry up and leave."

"Yeah…" Wolf sighed. He looked over to Alvin. "You go get George, and we'll head back towards the shuttle."

A few minutes later the three of them were on their way up the dusty road, silently walking back out into the cold, dark desert under the moon's light. This road was actually the same way the truck had gone, although Wolf didn't think they'd see it again. They had to walk uphill, since the town of Ruvac sat in a canyon. As they walked, George kept sparing glances back at the town.

At the end of the canyon, they passed a painted sign that declared "Welcome to Ruvac! Pop. 17", decorated with depictions of desert flowers and cacti. Wolf didn't think anything of it, but after a few moments he noticed only he and Alvin were walking together. George was gone. Wolf turned around, spotting him standing at the foot of the sign and gazing up at it.

"George, come on," Wolf called out. "We've got to get a move on." George stayed rooted to the spot. Wolf walked back over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Why did we have to do all of this?" George didn't take his eyes off the sign. "This town… The people here did nothing to us. Our attack was completely unprovoked. Now they're all dead. This town is a ghost town now."

Wolf winced, not wanting to say what he was about to say. "It was them or us. Otherwise we would have run out of supplies."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" George screamed, turning to Wolf. Surprised, Wolf stepped back from the monkey. " **Seventeen people** died so the three of us could fill our ship with supplies!"

Wolf's eye widened, feeling shocked at seeing the normally timid George like this. "Look, if it makes you feel better, a few people did make it out. A truck got away."

George threw up his hands. "Oh that's great…one, two, maybe three people out of seventeen! Yes, that just makes it all better Wolf! I feel **so much** better now! Thank you!" He yelled the last part right in Wolf's face.

Alvin stepped over, gently putting a hand on George's shoulder. "I know you're upset, but we don't have time for this. The people in the truck are going to warn others about what happened here, and then we'll get caught and this'll all have been for nothing."

George glared at him. "You're taking his side, Alvin?"

"I'm sorry George, but look…once the shuttle is full and we're on our way out of the system, we can talk about it then. But we've got to hurry up." Alvin gazed towards the horizon. "Besides the truck, the sun will be out in a few hours. We've got to get going. Can you wait until we're out of this place?

George glared at both Wolf and Alvin, red rings still underneath his eyes from all of the crying he had done. He probably would have cried more, but he had run out of tears. Sighing, George pushed past the two of them and kept walking down the road. "Okay, fine. Let's hurry up."

They walked down the dirt road in silence for about fifteen more minutes. There wasn't much to see around them aside from the occasional rocky outcropping breaking up the sand dunes. As they turned the corner around a pile of rocks, Wolf spotted a red light off in the distance. It looked like the tail lights of a car. Curiously, the light was not moving.

"Who is that?" Alvin asked.

"I don't know…" Wolf answered. "But we have to keep going this way to get back to the shuttle. Get your guns ready."

They rushed towards the red light, sticking to the shadows of the rocks near the road so the driver would not spot them. However, Wolf soon realized the sneaking was pointless. It was the same green pickup they saw fleeing the town, its front end smashed against the side of a cliff. It didn't look like anyone was still alive in there. Wolf breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't need to hurry anymore.

"Come on, let's go," Wolf waved for them to keep walking.

A subtle moaning emanated from inside the vehicle. Wolf stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide as he started at the truck. Was that just his imagination? But then he heard something that removed all doubt.

"Is someone out there? Help me, please…"

* * *

A/N: I felt like taking a break after the one-shot contest, since that was a rather big project with my limited free time. That's why this hasn't been updated in a while. Also, I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted this chapter to go. I actually had not decided who would be holding the gun at the end of Chapter 3 when I wrote that, believe it or not. As for who else it could have been besides the cop, I'll keep that to myself :)

Believe it or not, the very first part of the chapter with the hand-to-hand combat is what slowed me down the most. I really should take martial arts classes sometime, because I don't know much of anything about them. Thus, it was very difficult for me to write that fight scene and it's what took up the bulk of my time on this chapter. Once I got past it though, the words just flew from my fingers. I wrote the rest of the chapter in just one afternoon.

Hopefully it won't take me this long to produce my next chapter. I was intending to update this every couple weeks or so, but you see how fast that fell apart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Wolf listened to the pitiful moans of pain coming from inside the truck, feeling rooted to the spot. He was shocked anyone was alive in there at all. Both the front of the truck and the cab were crushed like paper against the rock wall, the back bed of the truck bent at a crazy angle. And that didn't sound like an adult in there. It sounded like a child…a young girl. What should he do?

He looked at the truck for a long hard moment, before looking back at his two companions. Alvin looked impatient as he tapped his foot, like he was wondering why Wolf didn't just go over there and finish the job. George just looked at Wolf wide-eyed, as if shocked that Wolf was even considering killing the trapped child. In all honesty, Wolf didn't know whose wishes he agreed with more.

Nonetheless, Wolf tiptoed over to the truck's driver side window and looked inside. The front dashboard was crushed inwards from the collision, all the way to the seats. Broken glass twinkled in the faint light, sprayed across the dashboard and upholstery. A male cat with cream-colored fur laid slumped in the driver's seat, crushed behind the steering wheel's exploded airbag. Drying blood soaked into his blue shirt and spread over the white airbag. Looked like the driver got hit from Wolf and Alvin shooting at him, and then he passed out while driving. That explained the crash. However, he could still hear soft moaning from inside the cab. Where was it coming from?

"Please…" the young girl said. "I can hear someone. Get me out of here... I can't move."

The voice sounded like it was coming from the passenger's footwell, although the dashboard had crushed inwards so much Wolf couldn't see in there. Wondering if he was going to regret this, Wolf walked around to the passenger side and tried to open the door. However, it was bent at a crazy angle from the crash and stuck shut. Grunting, Wolf pulled harder and harder, jerking on the door several times.

"Please hurry, open the door…" the girl pleaded.

With one final pull, the door detached from its busted latches, almost causing Wolf to fall over. He tossed the door aside and peered into the footwell. A young kitten peered back at him, her face covered with black and cream tabby markings. Oddly, her blue eyes seemed to wander instead of focusing on Wolf.

"Oh, thank you." The girl struggled in the compacted space of the foot well, trying to free one of her arms. "Please, get me out."

Wolf just stared at her, surprised at her relief. He still held his laser rifle visibly in his hands, and yet she didn't react to it at all. Was it just too dark for her to see it? Wolf wondered why he was even thinking about any of this, believing he should shoot her now. There could be no witnesses. As the girl struggled, Wolf pointed his laser rifle at her head.

Again, the girl didn't react and continued trying to free herself instead. "Come on… I'm stuck. Drag me out of here."

Wolf's finger rested on the trigger, ready to pull at a second's notice. Wolf knew she had to die, so that no one would ever know who had raided the village. His finger trembled on the trigger. He started to pull, feeling the trigger resisting. Wolf held it there, unable to decide if he should shoot or not. Shaking his head, he took his finger off the trigger and pointed the rifle away.

"Why are you just standing there?" The girl freed an arm, sticking a hand out to him. It was like Wolf's gun was invisible. "Help me!"

Wolf didn't know what to do. She seemed oblivious that he held her life in his hands, still begging for help. He'd killed so many people during the Lylat wars without a moment's hesitation. He'd done it to civilians who got in his way too. As Andross commanded it, he did it all without a second thought. After all, Andross always kept the money and equipment rolling in. But despite all of what he had done in the past, killing someone so young, so helpless, and so ignorant of her situation just didn't feel right.

George wandered over, standing next to Wolf. "Y-you're not really going to do it, are you?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Do what?" the girl asked, craning her neck towards George. "Who else is there?"

Wolf stayed silent, looking between George and the kitten, still unable to make a choice. He felt scared and angry, fearful of taking this girl's life and yet hating himself for not killing her already. He knew the girl should have died a few minutes ago, and yet he found himself paralyzed.

George glared at Wolf, his jaw clenched. Was this what George felt like when Wolf scowled at him? George sighed and shook his head. "Forget this, I'm helping her." And then he brushed past Wolf, taking the girl's hand.

"Oh, thank you! Why did you wait so long?" the girl asked.

"Forget that for now." George wrapped an arm around behind her head. "Let me help get your other arm free."

Wolf stared at George. Normally he'd call out a subordinate for undermining his authority, and yet he couldn't do it. In fact, to his confusion, he felt somewhat relieved instead. Not knowing what to do, he decided to wander over to where Alvin stood, waiting out of earshot of the girl.

"Why couldn't you just shoot her?" Alvin narrowed his eyes. "It's just a girl."

Wolf stared at the ground, unable to say anything. Growing impatient, Alvin hefted up his laser carbine. "If you won't do it, maybe I should."

He started to walk for where George was helping the girl out. Wolf watched as the gorilla started marching away. Time felt as though it slowed to a crawl, with Alvin moving in slow motion. Every step the ape took closer to the girl felt like it took minutes instead of seconds to complete. Wolf still didn't know what to do. Alvin flicked the safety off of his gun…

"No!" Wolf stepped in front of Alvin, throwing his arms out to block his path.

Alvin's mouth dropped open. "You…you want her to live?"

Wolf realized he too felt surprised at his own actions. Just what the hell was he doing right now? It was as if his body moved of its own free will. "Um…" Wolf chewed his lip, looking away. He knew the answer to Alvin's question was 'yes', but couldn't spit it out.

He didn't need to say it though, since Alvin appeared to read the answer on his face. "You sure about this, boss?" The gorilla raised an eyebrow. "Thought you didn't want to leave any witnesses. She's seen us now. She'll tell other people about us."

"I know, but—"

"Look…" He pointed towards George helping the girl. "If we let her live, we can't let her go. But then we'd have to take her with us. And what would we do with her then? Keep her around like a pet?"

"I…don't…know…" Wolf stammered.

"We have to shoot her. We don't have time for this."

"Ah, there you go!" George laughed.

Wolf turned around to look. George had finished getting the girl free, allowing Wolf to get a better look at her. She stood rather short. Wolf figured she wasn't any older than ten. As for clothes, she wore a white shirt, over which she wore a blue denim dress, all of it torn and cut from the crash. Most of her fur appeared to be a white-cream color, although her brown face had plenty of dark tabby stripes. A red brick-colored nose, dark brown ears, and blue-slit eyes rounded out the face. For a cat, her tail looked long and fluffy, more like a fox's or squirrel's tail. In fact, most of her fur was very long, with long cream-colored hair framing her darker face.

Even though he was dressed in full Venomian getup, the kitten hugged George. With her being so short, she hugged him around the waist. "Oh, thank you so much!"

While surprised at first, George smiled and brushed a hand through her long fur.

Smiling, the girl looked up towards George's face. "Can we check on Dad now? Is my dad OK?"

George's face fell. "Uh… I'm sorry." He looked inside, staring at the cat slumped over the steering wheel.

"Why are you sorry?" The kitten pulled out of the hug, her smile fading.

"Well…uh…" George looked away, not wanting to say it.

"What is it?" She asked. "Did something happen to Dad? I can feel you shaking…"

Wolf winced as he watched the girl start to become confused and afraid. While he knew being blunt would hurt the girl terribly, Wolf thought that it would be best if someone just told her what happened already. She'd find out eventually; why delay the inevitable?

"He's dead," Wolf said. "Died in the crash."

"What?" the girl turned to Wolf, frozen to the spot. With surprising speed, she dashed back over to the pickup. Through the opened passenger door she climbed over the crushed dashboard and broken glass, trying to feel for her father in the driving seat. Her hand finally reached one of her father's arms. "Dad, dad! Are you there? Wake up! **Wake up!** "

Wolf let out a sigh, saddened that this had to happen to this young girl. "Kiddo, he's gone." Wolf walked over to pick her out of the wreck.

She swatted his hands away. "No! No no no! Daddy can't be dead! Leave us alone!" Her hands moved over her father's face. "Come on dad! Be awake!"

Wolf watched as she tried to wake up her eternally slumbering father. For several minutes longer, the shaking and yelling turned to nothing but crying. Seeing this reminded Wolf of something he'd forgotten about for a long, long time: his own parents. Sometimes he forgot about them so long, he believed he'd simply appeared one day out of thin air into this galaxy. Just a big old hunk of badass shaped together by some cosmic force into a wolf's body. Seeing this little kitten cry over her lost father… Caring for a blood relative felt so alien to him, because he had not seen any of his family for decades. The sight stirred something deep inside him.

"Girl, what's your name?" Wolf put a hand on her back as she kept crying over her father.

By this point the girl just sat there, her tears drained. After a moment, she turned back to him, although her teary eyes wandered instead of focusing on him. "It's-it's Rachel."

"Rachel?" Wolf paused. He kind of liked that name, for some reason. "Rachel…"

"Do…do you know what happened?" Rachel put a hand on Wolf's sleeve. "Dad said there were some bad people in the village, and we had to get away. I heard a lot of shooting." Wolf could feel her little hand trembling as she clutched to his arm. "He ran me to the truck, and he told me to hide under the glove box while we drove away. Then there was a lot of shooting, and I heard him scream…"

A bad person… It described Wolf perfectly, and up until a few minutes ago it wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest to be called that. He was a mercenary. It was his job to do dirty work for others. Who cared as long as he got paid? And yet being called a 'bad person' this time actually hurt a bit. "Yeah…there were some bad people in the village." Wolf chewed his lip, looking away from her face.

Something nagged at the back of this mind though. The girl had gotten a good look at all three of them, with Wolf dressed in his black military flight suit and George and Alvin in their full Venomian military gear, all of them armed to the teeth. Why didn't she care about what they looked like? Didn't she see their weapons? Heck why didn't she see Wolf pointing a gun at her earlier?

A realization struck him. This girl's eyes wandered a lot, never focusing on anything. Hazarding a guess, Wolf asked her a question. "Rachel, are you blind?"

Rachel rubbed away the tears from her eyes. "Yeah… I've been blind all my life."

"I see." Wolf stroked the underside of his muzzle. "That explains a lot…"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing," Wolf shook his head. He turned over to George. "Hey, why don't you talk to her a bit George? I think she likes you."

"Oh, your friend's name is George?" Rachel asked.

"That's right," George smiled as he picked Rachel back out of the truck. Once she was on the ground, George knelt so he was speaking at her height. "Rachel, do you have any other family?"

Wolf didn't catch the rest as he walked with Alvin some distance away, where the two couldn't be overheard. He knew that blind people tended to have better than average hearing, so he whispered just to be safe. "She's blind and she doesn't know who we are. And she obviously wouldn't have seen us when we attacked Ruvac. We could just leave her here, and she'd be none the wiser."

Yeah, it was sad her father died and even sadder to just leave her here, but Wolf didn't know what else could be done. They needed to get out of the Lylat System ASAP, and what would they do with Rachel if they took her with them?

"I dunno…" Alvin frowned, whispering in return. Looks like he picked up on the hint to be quiet. "I still think we should kill her, because I'd hate to leave a loose end. What if she tells someone about meeting us?"

"We should be long gone out of the system by then, so it's okay. Even then, it's not like she can give a physical description."

Alvin shook his head. "I still don't like this."

"Maybe we should see what George thinks."

"You know he's not going to like leaving her behind. Just look at the two of them over there." Alvin pointed towards the truck.

Turning back, Wolf looked at George and Rachel having a conversation, with the monkey doing his best to console her. Despite the grim situation, they seemed to be getting along quite well. Wolf thought he even heard Rachel give a soft laugh at one point. The two already appeared to be bonding. That was going to make this tricky.

Gathering himself up, he called over to the pair. "George, could you come over for a sec?"

George looked up, a little upset at being interrupted. "Uh, why?"

"Just do it, please." Wolf sighed.

While annoyed at having to leave Rachel, he stood up and patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry Rachel. Be back in a minute." He paced over, crossing his arms and looking impatient. "What is it?"

"First of all, speak in whispers for now. Second, I think we should leave Rachel here," Wolf whispered to him. "She doesn't know who we are. No need to kill her." While not an ideal outcome, to Wolf it seemed the best solution. Rachel would get to live, and they would be on their way out of the system after resupplying.

George did not agree, as his jaw dropped at the idea. "You're just gonna leave her here? Out in the desert all alone?" He waved at the endless sand dunes and rocks around them.

While the idea sounded rational before, having it thrown back at him like that made him second guess that. "Uh…yeah, basically." He awkwardly shuffled his feet.

"Don't you think she'd wind up dead from that too?" George spoke as if Wolf was an idiot.

Wolf didn't like being talked to like that, but brushed it off for the moment. "Well, the village isn't that far from here." Wolf gestured towards the road. "She could wander back."

"She's blind. How is she going to find the village on her own? She's probably never been outside of it without someone watching after her. Shooting her would actually be more merciful. If you just leave her here, she'll probably die of thirst before anyone finds her."

"Why are we even talking about this?" Alvin butted in, whispering harshly. "We're wasting time! We should just shoot her and get the hell out of here!"

"Alvin, you serious?" George clenched his fists, getting up in his face. "You want to shoot an innocent girl?!"

"It's her or us, George!" He pointed over towards where the girl waited.

"The hell?" George replied, exasperated. "You're acting like she's the one pointing a gun at us instead of the other way around!"

"If we don't kill her…" Alvin's voice started to rise past a whisper. "We may end up having a whole bunch of Cornerian guns pointed at us later!"

Much to Wolf's fear, George replied by raising his voice a slight tempo above Alvin's. "How the hell is she going to tell the Cornerians we were here? She's blind and she doesn't know who we are. And besides, we killed her dad and everyone in her town. The least we can do is take her with us and make sure she's safe."

"And how long is she going to be with us?" Alvin raised his voice again. "Are we going to take her out of the Lylat System too? There's no law out there, not like there is here. There's no way a young girl can survive that, not like us. She'd either end up dead or sold into slavery. Again, we should just shoot her now! That's the nicest thing we can do for her! If she lives, she'll be traumatized for life anyway!"

"Oh, like you would know best on when it's OK to take a young, innocent life!"

"Would you two quiet down?!" Wolf growled, snapping his teeth at them. "You're being too loud!"

George and Alvin reared back, as Wolf's jaws flashed near their faces. They looked like he was afraid he might actually bite.

With the new silence, Wolf picked up a sound behind him. His ears rotated, picking up small footsteps along with the tapping of a cane. The little kitten girl had wandered over, a curious look on her face. She held a blanket over her upper torso, shivering in the cold desert night. Her white cane tapped the ground in front of her. "What are you all talking about? You're all yelling and screaming and stuff."

Wolf glared at George and Alvin, his hand brushing against the handle of his holstered blaster. George and Alvin took the hint to shut up. With them quieted down, Wolf addressed the girl. "Oh, nothing special Rachel."

She looked between the three of them, or at least she turned her head in each of their directions. "Who are the three of you anyway? Are you the police?"

"Uh…" That question threw Wolf for a loop. He hadn't even considered that he would have to explain themselves to her. What would he say? Quickly wracking his brain for ideas, he muttered out an alibi. "Uh…the people who shot up your town were Venomian soldiers. The Venomians are here on Papetoon now."

Well, that was the truth technically. Alvin had to suppress a laugh, while George looked mortified.

"Really?" Rachel gasped. "Dad said they were going to leave us alone!"

"I know, but you just don't know what they'll do…Venomians, I mean."

"So who are you guys? Why are you here?"

Wolf didn't know what to say at first. An idea popped into his head. He decided to just roll with it. "We….we're Cornerian soldiers. We came here to fight them, but they already left by the time we got here."

"Is the town okay?"

Wolf winced. It was bad enough to deliver the bad news about her father. Even so, he didn't feel like lying to this girl more than he had to. "No…it's really bad over there. Everyone's…dead."

Rachel gasped and put her hands to her mouth. "What? Everyone? Even Mr. Colton and the police? He bought me a chocolate sundae at the diner one day…"

Wolf closed his eyes in shame. "Yes. The Venomians got them all." He remembered the cop he knifed had 'Colton' on his nametag. He'd taken pleasure in doing it then…but not so much now.

Rachel would have let out another wave of tears, but she'd already spent them all on her father. Unexpectedly, Rachel stumbled forward towards Wolf and wrapped herself around his lower torso, burying her face into his side. Shocked, Wolf looked down at her. This was the first time in decades anyone had hugged him. Normally, everyone except for his wingmen wanted to stay at least ten feet away from him.

Nonetheless, Wolf put a hand around the back of the girl's head, patting it in a shallow attempt to reassure her everything was going to be ok. He awkwardly glanced over at George and Alvin, both of them having a mixture of amusement and fear at the big bad wolf petting such a little kitten. Being so close to Rachel and feeling the warmth of her body changed something in him. He realized he didn't want to leave her out by the truck anymore. That was just too cruel, even for him.

After a few more moments of silence, Wolf knelt down so he was at her height and gently spoke. "Look, I think we should take you back to the village."

He could feel Rachel trembling, as she turned her head towards the sound of his voice. "But you said everyone is dead there. The Venomians killed all of them."

"Don't worry. They're gone now. Besides, we can't leave you out here in the desert. You'll be safer in the town."

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted George giving him a thumbs up. Alvin just scowled and turned away though.

"Are there any more Cornerians over there?" Rachel asked.

Wolf turned back to her. "No, it's just us."

Rachel looked down at the ground, holding a bit tighter to Wolf. "Can you stay with me? I'm afraid of the Venomians coming back, and you feel like you're big and strong…"

Wolf went quiet. He knew he had to say 'no', but found it difficult to do so. Alas, it had to be this way. He came up with another alibi. "I don't think we can. We heard about another attack somewhere else. We'll have to leave after we take you back to the town."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry. We'll leave you some food and water." Wolf sighed. "The phones are out, but hopefully someone will come by before long." He hated to admit it, but despite being a selfish mercenary he found himself caring more and more about Rachel's plight the longer they talked. "Well, come on. Let's get back to our shuttle. We'll fly back. It'll be faster than walking back to the town from here. Are you okay to walk?"

"I think so…" She turned back towards the truck for a moment, before looking back to Wolf. "Can I do one last thing before we go?"

"What?"

"I want to say goodbye to Dad."

Wolf blinked. He'd already forgotten. "Oh, right." Wolf looked back over at the truck.

Rachel walked back to the truck, taking it slow and using her cane so she didn't accidentally trip. She reached out a hand, feeling for something. When her hand touched the back of the wrecked truck, she felt her way along it back to the driver's side door. It was wedged closed, like the passenger door. She felt for the door handle and tried to pull it open, but couldn't with her small strength.

George quickly walked over, grunting hard as he yanked on the handle. After a few hard pulls, the door shrieked open, the metal on metal screeching causing Wolf's ears to roll backwards. Rachel seemed to pay it no mind, as she reached into the cab. Wolf decided to come closer to see what she was doing. She brushed a hand over her father's face.

"He's so cold…" Rachel sniffled. "So cold…"

For a few minutes, she kept brushing the hand around her father's face, trying to take it all in. Wolf realized with pity that was the only way she could tell what her father looked like. How terrible to live without sight for her whole life. Wolf thought it was bad enough having just one eye gone. Wolf checked his watch in the meantime. This was costing them time they'd need to load up the shuttle and leave. They'd lost a lot of time talking to this girl. Shaking his head, Wolf put the watch away. How dare he think of his time as more valuable than hers right now.

Rachel felt in her father's pocket, taking out a wallet. She showed it to George. "Can you look inside? There's supposed to be an old picture of me, mom, and dad all together in there. It's from when I was really little."

George took the wallet, opening it up and pawing through the contents. He pulled out a small photograph. Stepping into the moonlight, he looked at the photograph. Wolf could see it too. Three cats sat on a wooden bench in a park full of trees, hugging each other and smiling. Rachel was in the picture too, only as a toddler. Both parents had the same tabby face and blue eyes of their child, although Wolf noticed the tails and the fur on their arms looked darker. How sad that Rachel had never seen this picture. It looked very sweet.

George handed the picture and the wallet back to Rachel. "Here you go, I found it."

"Thanks…" she said, holding the picture briefly. Even though she couldn't see it, she appeared to try to look at it all the same before putting the photo and the wallet away in a pocket on her denim dress. "I'm ready to go now."

"All right," Wolf pat her on the back. She pulled out her cane again, tapping it in front of them as they walked down the road away from the truck. Wolf spared one more glance at the pickup, and then they turned the corner and were out of sight.

George put a hand on Wolf's shoulder for a moment. The lupine turned to look at him, with the monkey nodding and giving a grateful smile. Obviously he was happy Wolf changed his mind about leaving Rachel by the truck. How strange. Normally people rewarded him with money rather than smiles. This felt odd, although he liked it. He politely nodded back to George.

Their footsteps echoed amongst the rocks as they continued to walk, with Rachel's cane making a sharp tapping sound as a contrast. That tapping sound kept causing Wolf to look over at Rachel, who stumbled along the path after them. She looked as though she was having trouble navigating the rocks and stones littering the road.

Wolf stepped over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Wait Rachel."

"What is it?"

Wolf knelt down in front of her, using his arms to guide her closer. "Here, I'll give you a ride. Get on my back." Admittedly Wolf wasn't doing it just for her sake. He also wanted to save some time walking back to the shuttle.

Rachel sure appreciated it either way though. "Oh! Thank you so much!" She gratefully climbed onto Wolf's back. She felt so light, feeling more like a small backpack rather than a kid to Wolf.

"You know… I just realized I never got all of your names. I only know George's. What's yours?"

Wolf wasn't sure what to tell her. Should he lie about his name in case someone asked her later about the people who took her home? Nah… He'd tell her the truth. Wolf was tired of telling her so many lies and hiding what he had done personally to screw up her life. She at least deserved his name.

"It's Wolf." He paused. Thinking about it, he added, "Wolf O'Donnell."

* * *

A/N: Many thanks to Elarix for betaing this chapter. I've never tried writing a character like Rachel before, nor have I tried writing a scene with so many complicated emotions to go around. Even with his help it was a real challenge to finish this chapter. I had to reread this chapter several times and think rather hard about what I wanted to do and how I wanted this chapter to flow.

Also, now I'm sure you realize why I picked the title "Love is Blind". This particular scene where Wolf meets Rachel is what I saw in my head when I first thought of this story idea. It took a lot longer to get to this point in the story than I thought it would. I was initially expecting George and Alvin to just be throwaway characters who would have probably died in the town raid, but they've grown on me. I think I'm going to keep them around a lot longer now.

Also, notice any similarities to how I describe Rachel and the cover of this story? "Love is Blind" is partly inspired from how I adopted a cat from a shelter a few years ago. Her name is Misty, and the story's cover is her picture. Rachel is based on her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The Venomian shuttle descended onto Ruvac's one lone street. The rock walls of the canyon loomed up on either side, the wide dusty avenue barely able to accommodate the craft's size. Nonetheless, Wolf guided the shuttle into a flawless landing without even thinking about it. His thoughts were far too occupied with Rachel.

She sat in the adjacent pilot seat, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Despite being unable to see out the windows, riding shotgun appeared to cheer her up a bit. She said she'd never been in the cockpit of a spaceship before, so Wolf decided he'd just let her experience it. Least he could do after what he'd done. She'd stopped crying, and now held a blank expression on her face. She probably has no idea what she's going to do now, Wolf thought. Hell…he knew all about that. He'd been there too sometimes.

The VTOL engines emitted a low whine as the craft neared the ground, dust clouds kicking up all around. The landing gear popped out of hatches on the side, emitting a grinding noise as the hydraulics did their work. With a soft bump, the shuttle touched down.

"Oh…that's it?" Rachel asked, looking over at Wolf. Her tail drooped downwards.

"I told you we weren't that far away from here." Wolf unbuckled his harness, sliding out to help Rachel with hers.

She looked down at the floor, her pointy ears drooping. "Oh…okay…"

He helped her down to the floor, guiding her out of the shuttle. Rachel didn't seem to need his help though, as she used her hands to guide herself through the cockpit door and back into the cargo hold. Wolf found himself amazed at how fast she adapted to the physical space of the ship despite being blind.

George and Alvin were already up out of their seats, the back door of the shuttle open and ready to take in precious supplies and cargo. Cargo that the residents of this town had paid for with their lives… Wolf couldn't look at Rachel for a moment.

George picked up for Wolf, running over and kneeling down next to Rachel. "OK Rachel…can you show us where your house is in town?"

"Sure, it won't be too hard…" She spoke, sounding depleted of energy.

She pulled her collapsible cane out of her pocket and extended it, feeling it along the metal floor. Without any help she walked the length of the shuttle and to the end of the cargo ramp. It was a slight drop to the ground there. Wolf started to call out to warn her, but Rachel didn't miss a beat as she stepped down to the dirt without halting her walk. She paused in the street for a moment. Her pointed ears swayed in the wind passing through the canyon, the fur on her long tail billowing up and down. She turned to the left, walking on with confidence.

George followed behind, ready to lend assistance, but Rachel didn't need it at all. She made her way to the sidewalk within seconds, knowing the exact point to lift her feet off of the dirt and onto the concrete. Wolf couldn't help but marvel at the ease of her movement, despite having no sight.

George felt the same way. "Wow Rachel, you're moving really fast."

"It's just walking..." She sounded puzzled as to why George thought that walking was an accomplishment.

They walked down the sidewalk for a couple of minutes. A smaller dirt driveway intersected the sidewalk ahead. As soon as the sidewalk ended, Rachel turned and began walking up the dirt path. The driveway led up a short hill towards four or five houses, huddled against one of the canyon walls. It was the closest thing this town had to a neighborhood. All of the houses looked like small, primitive huts, built out of the brown mud and rocks from the surrounding area. Each one occupied about the size and dimensions of a large shipping container. They all looked old but sturdy, with the walls almost looking like part of the landscape at first glance.

Rachel turned towards the first hut on the left. She felt around for the door's handle and found it. Without a word, she opened up the door. The door squealed loudly as it turned inwards, causing Wolf's ears to roll back. Nonetheless, he followed her in.

"Well, this is it…" Rachel's voice trailed off. She didn't seem to know what else to say.

Despite the primitive exterior of the house, the inside looked very comfortable, if crowded. One long room made up most of the house, almost like the inside of a train car. In front of them sat a living area with a stone fireplace. A small fire burning in the hearth provided the only light. This gave the house a very dark appearance and casted long shadows. It looked like no one had tended to the fire for a while, as the wood looked blackened and the flames faltered. Rachel's father probably built that fire… Wolf averted his eyes from it. An old brown couch and recliner faced the hearth, a richly embroidered rug of yellows, reds, and browns occupying the space between them.

In the dim firelight, Wolf spotted two beds beyond the living area. A plain green quilt covered one of them, while the other had a white and pink comforter with several plushies positioned in front of the pillow. No mystery which bed belonged to Rachel. Each one had a night stand, with a large wardrobe sitting between them. A bookshelf, a desk, and a dresser occupied most of the wall on the other side. Even further than that, Wolf could see a kitchen with what was probably the door to the bathroom, although it was too far from the light to make out many details.

Rachel moved slowly to the couch, feeling for the armrest and sitting down on it. She sniffled, throwing her blanket over herself to stay warm, the brief moment of joy from riding in the shuttle gone again. She was home again, but now she was home alone. Permanently. The last time she was here, she'd had a father looking after her. Not anymore.

The weight of her father's death pressed down upon Wolf again, as silence filled the room. Wolf didn't know what to say. It was the first time in a long while he'd felt any sorrow over killing someone, so this was a strange feeling for him. Funny, Wolf thought he'd feel all right after taking Rachel home again, like he'd done his good deed for the day. However, seeing this empty house changed his mind.

He turned his eye back towards the fire, watching it burn away. A small pile of logs sat off to one side on a small metal rack. Without thinking about it, he stepped over and placed some inside, moving the logs around with the poker. The fire burned higher again, brightening up the house and making it feel a little more inviting.

"Hey Wolf…" Alvin said behind him. "Don't you think we should get ready to leave?"

Wolf spun around, glaring at him with his one good eye. He thought about berating Alvin for saying something like that in front of Rachel, but Alvin did have a good point. They couldn't stay here with Rachel forever. Wolf nodded, moving back outside and waving for George and Alvin to follow.

"We'll be back in a minute, Rachel," George said as they left.

Rachel turned her head towards the departing group, one hand holding the blanket tight round her shoulders. Those blue eyes… Wolf found it hard to look into their innocence. With the look on her face, you'd think they were leaving her here forever instead of just for a few minutes. Nonetheless, she swallowed and nodded. "Okay."

They stepped back out into the chilly desert night, George closing the door behind him. Wolf tried to put Rachel's look out of his mind and back to the real reason they were here. They needed to load up the shuttle as fast as they could and get the hell out. Funny that… When he'd first arrived here he'd been determined to raid the town for supplies. Now that they finally had the chance to collect the spoils he didn't feel so great anymore.

After gathering himself up, he started formulating a plan. "All right… First of all, we need fuel. So we should hit the gas station." It wasn't uncommon for stations to keep some fuel for space ships around, since some people would own smaller personal spacecraft and need fuel. "We need food and we need water too. I think I saw a general store. We can hit that next. Also, keep an eye out for valuables too. Like money, jewelry, those sorts of things. We may need to buy things or bribe people."

"Maybe we should get some paint too," Alvin suggested.

Wolf blinked, his thoughts muddled by the sudden odd request. He raised an eyebrow, looking over at Alvin. "What are we gonna do with paint?"

"Now that Andross has fallen, I think the Venomian markings on our shuttle have fallen out of fashion." Alvin gave a rare chuckle. To Wolf's knowledge that was the gorilla's first joke. "We should probably do something about that."

"Ah…" Wolf hadn't even considered that. "Good point."

Alvin pointed over towards the gas station, which was visible from the top of their small hill. The street light highlighted the building. "You can see there's a repair bay attached to the station, so they might have some automotive paint. We should paint over the markings while we can."

"Dunno how well it'll hold up in space, but it's better than nothing," Wolf shrugged.

"Hey," George interrupted. "Don't you think we should get some food and stuff for Rachel too? You wanted to do that, right Wolf? She might be waiting a while for someone to come by here."

"Right." Wolf nodded. "You can do that then George. Rachel likes you, after all."

George chuckled. "Yeah, she does…" The smile faded as he looked back at the house's door. "I'll be sad when we have to leave her behind, all alone."

Wolf thought he was going to be sad too about that, although maybe he'd get over it after a few days. In any case, they couldn't take her along and there was nothing that could be done about it.

He brought George back to the task at hand. "You get the food and water from the general store. You bring some back to Rachel, but most of it goes to the shuttle. Alvin and I will get everything we need from the gas station." He looked at the two primates. "Okay, let's get to work. It won't be long before sun up, so we've got to hurry."

The three of them rushed back to the main street and then went their separate ways. George took off for the town's general store while Alvin and George turned their attention to the gas station.

While Alvin went to the garage to look for paint, Wolf decided he'd refuel the shuttle and look for cans to fill with extra fuel. He stepped through the glass door in front into the station's dingy shop. It was the old kind of station shop that sold items and services for car repairs rather than food and candy, so the shelves were lined with various types of parts, fluids and tools for car repair. Dark stains and black grime covered just about everything, although Wolf didn't mind. He was too focused on looking for one particular item. After scanning the room quickly, he didn't find what he needed.

Wolf opened up a door behind the service desk, stepping into the repair bay. Alvin was busy rummaging through some cabinets for the paint. Wolf ignored him, looking around the shop for what he was trying to find. He spotted a closet door at the back of the bay. After walking over, he opened it up.

"Aha! Perfect!" Wolf grinned as he dragged a big fuel pump out of the closet, trailing long hoses behind it.

It was too heavy to carry, so it made a loud grinding noise as Wolf pushed it over the grimy concrete floor, leaving scratch marks everywhere. He paid it no mind, as he pushed it out of the shop and towards the spaceship fuel tank in the back. Before long Wolf had one of the pump's hoses hooked up to the shuttle's fuel tank, with the other hose attached to the station's spacecraft fuel tank. The pump looked very old, but Wolf didn't have any trouble starting it up. It sputtered to life, humming with a loud intensity as the hoses expanded with the fuel moving through them.

While the shuttle refueled, Alvin brought over some cans of white paint, a paint sprayer, and a step ladder. The ship was mostly white anyway, so it wouldn't be hard for Alvin to cover up any inconvenient markings with white paint. Wolf paused for a moment to watch. After filling up the sprayer, he set up the ladder next to one of the ship's Venomian military emblems. Ever the one for vanity, Andross made the symbol of his army his face, rendered in black and white.

Alvin sighed as he slipped on a face mask. "A shame I've gotta cover this up. I was hoping we'd see this symbol all over Lylat after the war ended." He shook the sprayer in his hands.

Wolf didn't reply.

Noticing this, Alvin turned to him, narrowing his eyes. "Don't you have anything to say to that?"

"Not really." Wolf shook his head. "I'm a mercenary. My only loyalty is to the highest bidder. If my client dies, I'll just go find another one. Now that Andross is dead, it's time to find my next job. As soon as we're out of Lylat, that is."

"Is that so?" Alvin frowned behind the mask, as he set to work waving the sprayer over the marking from the top to the bottom. Andross's forehead, eyes, and ears started to vanish against the white background. "I'm sad to hear that."

"Why?" Wolf crossed his arms.

"You were the greatest soldier in our entire army. Everyone looked up to you. I did too. At the start of the war, we were sure we could win with you on our side. Don't you feel at least a little bit of pride in that? In what you did to help Andross spread his glory?"

If Wolf wanted to be honest, he could have just given Alvin a flat 'no' and left it at that. But since he'd need Alvin's help until they were out of the system, he decided to use a different answer. "I liked being the right hand of Andross, but that's in the past now. It's time to think about the future."

"So you're just gonna forget Andross ever existed, and go be someone else's lackey then? To whoever pays you the most money?" Alvin kept spraying the paint as he spoke, covering up Andross's nose and mouth. "And you're just gonna keep doing that for the rest of your life?"

That fit the job description of a mercenary, but Wolf didn't feel like answering 'yes' to that.

Alvin shook his head. "Disgusting. You may be a better soldier than I'll ever be, but you've got no ideals. How about dedicating yourself to a cause higher than yourself? Like I did?" He'd covered over the sigil by this point, as he climbed back down the ladder.

"You call this dedication?" Wolf frowned, as he pointed at the white space where the symbol used to be. "It was your idea to paint the ship. Looks like to me you're only loyal when it's convenient for you. At least I admit to being that way."

Alvin stepped back, grimacing his teeth. "Look, this is just temporary. For now, all we can do is lay low." He looked up towards the starry night sky. "But I bet we're not the only Venomians who escaped. After we get out of Lylat, I want to try regrouping with them. Then we can attack Corneria again."

"Yeah?" Wolf chuckled. He smiled and shook his head. If Andross couldn't win with a military big enough to conquer an entire system, what made Alvin think they could win with just the ragtag remnants who survived the first war? Especially without Star Wolf's help? The thought was so funny to him he forgot about being polite in his answers. "Well, hope that works out for you buddy."

"I'm serious!" Alvin snapped his head back towards Wolf. "And I was hoping you could help out too."

"Well…" Wolf rotated his neck, cracking some bones. "If you think whatever's left of the Venomian Army can scrounge together enough credits, I'd be glad too. Oh, and a new set of Wolfen IIs and my teammates. Otherwise, goodbye and good luck."

"Come on Wolf." Alvin held out the palms of his hands towards Wolf, beckoning him. "We helped get you off Venom. You'd be in a Cornerian prison by now if we left you there. Surely that counts for something!"

"Okay." Wolf nodded. "I'll pay you and George some credits as a reward once I get money. But I'm not sticking around for Lylat Wars II just because of that."

Alvin narrowed his eyebrows. "But I don't want money! The Venomian Army needs your skills!"

Wolf shook his head, holding up a hand to stop Alvin talking. "Look, you don't know how many free Venomians are still out there. You don't even know how many want to keep fighting. For all we know, we may be the only ones who escaped. I think we should just focus on trying to get out of Lylat first, don't you?"

Alvin went quiet, looking defeated. He turned away from Wolf. "Okay…fine." He sighed.

"Good man." Wolf patted him on the shoulder. "You get back to work on covering up the other Venomian markings. I'm going to see how George is doing."

Wolf turned to take off, but Alvin called out one last thing. "Seriously though Wolf…"

The lupine turned around.

"I think it's sad how you sell out to the highest bidder. I bet you could do some really great things if you think about something bigger than just yourself and Star Wolf. Just consider that." Alvin gave Wolf one last look, before he turned around to refill his paint sprayer.

Wolf just smirked and shook his head. He couldn't imagine letting anyone be his boss like that long term. And really great things certainly were not going to happen if he joined up with what was left of the Venomian army. Nonetheless, he gave a polite nod to Alvin's back and headed in the direction of the general store.

* * *

 _A/N: This is a short chapter, but I feel like this is a good spot to break._

 _This part where Alvin speaks to Wolf was actually rather spontaneous. I just felt like taking the chapter in this direction as I wrote it, and not because I planned it. Perhaps it's because I've spent some time fleshing out George, and now I think I'd like to flesh out Alvin a bit more and show what drives him. I don't want anyone in this story to just be 100% good or bad. I want everyone to have both positive and negative aspects about them._

 _This is inspired quite a bit from the game Fallout: New Vegas. It'd take a really long time to describe the plot of New Vegas, but in a nutshell there are four different factions trying to take control of Las Vegas (now called New Vegas) in a post-nuclear war America. At the end of the game, you get to decide who takes control of New Vegas. All of the factions have both their good and bad points, even the ones that are a very dark shade of black. And depending on your viewpoint, you could classify any faction taking over New Vegas as being good or bad._

 _I really loved this plot mechanic because it's basically like real life. In real life, very few people are 100% good or bad, and I take pains to reflect this in the characters in my stories. New Vegas is actually what got me back into writing stories again, because I loved many of the characters and it gave me a lot of new ideas for how to tell my stories. If you haven't checked it out before, I strongly recommend you do. You can buy Fallout: New Vegas on the PS3 or Xbox 360 now with all DLC for like $15-20, and that's a tremendous bargain for the amount of content you get._

 _Speaking of Fallout… Fallout 4 comes out very soon, and I'm planning to get it on release day. I expect it'll take up a big chunk of my free time once I have it. Hope this doesn't slow me down too much in my writing, haha._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

As with most everything else in Ruvac, the general store appeared very ramshackle. It looked like a small wooden barn repurposed into a shop, with the half-octagonal shaped tin roof and the walls painted in fading red. A glass window frontage replaced the large barn doors, with a faded red-and-white sign declaring the shop as "Sean's Market". Wolf prayed it would have enough food and supplies to sustain them until they could get out of the system.

He stepped up to the glass door and pushed it in, a bell attached to the handle jingling as he entered. Several rows of shelves greeted his sight under the harsh fluorescent lights, with a variety of contents. Food, fishing gear, camping supplies… A couple of shopping carts were lined up near the door, all of them full of food. George must have filled those up already. Meanwhile, he heard the monkey somewhere behind the shelves, tossing things into another cart. Wolf walked over to where he was, spotting the spider monkey emptying another shelf.

George stopped for a second to see who it was as Wolf turned the corner, but only gave a brief glare before returning to the task at hand.

Wolf ignored the attitude. "You think there's enough food here?"

"Yeah," he spat out, not looking at Wolf.

The lupine folded his arms, waiting for George to say something else. Several seconds passed without another word being shared, the only sound being George throwing more things into his buggy. He did the task in a harsh way, slamming boxes down hard against the metallic basket. The anger was obvious.

"Are you all right, George?"

"No, I'm not. I'm not all right at all," George snapped, as he kept filling the cart. "Nothing's been right for a long time. First of all, you made me kill someone."

Wolf supposed a 'sorry' would just make things worse, so he tried a different response. "You shouldn't have to do it again. We'll be out of Lylat soon once we finish packing."

George forced one more box into the cart, slamming it down so hard on the metal it sounded like a hammer strike. The monkey narrowed his eyes, now staring Wolf right in the face. "You said I wouldn't have to shoot anybody when we first came here."

Wolf winced, his ears peeling backwards. He couldn't think of a good response to that for a moment. Not to mention he wasn't used to arguing this much. He was used to teammates who just did what he said without question. "Well…that's war George. Shit happens and things don't go according to plan. You've just gotta roll with it."

George grumbled and pulled over another empty cart, shoving more things from the shelves into it. When he noticed Wolf still standing there motionless, he said, "I thought we were in a hurry here? Aren't you going to do anything to help?"

Wolf narrowed his eye, but he supposed George was right. They needed to hurry up and leave this town before sunrise. The lupine brought over another empty cart and started shoving boxes off the shelves into it, simply using his arm to push them into the basket. Funny to think that just a day or two ago, he was the leader of the most elite fighter squadron in a system-spanning empire. Now here he was rummaging for food like a scavenger in a zombie apocalypse.

"Now, second thing," George said. "You're making us leave Rachel behind, after we killed her father and everyone in her town."

"What else can we do with her?" Wolf sighed, as he filled his own buggy. "It's like Alvin said. The space outside of Lylat is no place for a girl like her. She'd get eaten alive out there. At least if she's here, there's a chance the state police or someone will find her and put her in orphanage. She'll be safe there."

"So why don't we do that?" George stopped, pointing at Wolf with a box of rice. "Let's take her to an orphanage, say she's a refugee of the war, and then we'll know she'll be safe."

"Ain't happening." Wolf tipped a display of beef jerky over the cart and brushed the packages into it. "We try that, and we're going to military prison. It's not like you can just dump a kid at an orphanage and leave. They're gonna ask questions. And let's not forget that the Cornerian Navy is everywhere in Lylat looking for fleeing Venomian soldiers, just like us. We're very lucky we haven't run into them yet. Let's keep it that way and leave Lylat as soon as we're done here."

George looked back over at Wolf. "We're really just going to abandon Rachel here, after everything we've done to her?"

"We will, if it keeps us out of prison." Wolf continued to push more things off the shelves into his own cart. Noticing that George had stopped, he said, "I thought we were in a hurry here?" mimicking the ape's words from before.

George sighed and closed his eyes. "I just don't think I can take leaving Rachel all alone here. It's not right at all."

"If you want her to have company that bad, then you can stay behind. Alvin and I are getting out of here."

George snapped his head to look at Wolf, eyes widened at the implied threat.

"Do you still want to help her now?" Wolf added.

George didn't respond, going back to the job of filling the carts. Wolf wasn't altogether happy about threatening George like that, but he was the leader and he needed to be firm every now and then. There just wouldn't be any positive outcome to taking Rachel with them. The sooner George got in line with that, the better.

And yet Wolf wouldn't admit it, but he himself felt conflicted over this Rachel issue. She had to be left behind, but still, a part of him didn't want to do it. He wondered if he would have just killed her if they'd come to Papetoon as conquerors rather than refugees. Thinking about that, something else piqued Wolf's curiosity. He spared a glance at George, who was still absorbed in his task of cleaning out the shelves.

While it would feel awkward after what was said before, Wolf asked the question anyway. "George, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what?" George growled, not looking at Wolf.

 _Guess I deserved that._

Nonetheless, Wolf pressed on. "How does someone like you end up under Andross in the first place? You just don't fit the type."

George stopped, glaring at Wolf. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"You said nothing's been right for a long time. You're talking about Andross and Venom, aren't you?"

The harsh look melted away from George's face, replaced by a weary-looking one that appeared to have been subject to years of doubt and inner turmoil. While silent for a moment, George slowly began to speak. "I-it's kind of a long story. You got time?"

Wolf continued to work as he spoke. "I think we'll be cleaning this place for a little while longer, so yeah."

George paused to for a moment, then ducked down to start picking up the containers of oatmeal on the bottom shelf.

"Okay then," he said, as he continued to load carts. "A few years ago I got a Ph.D. in engineering from the Macbeth Planetary University. I focused on construction. Couldn't find work after I graduated though. Put my resume everywhere online. No one would hire me because I didn't have experience. Plus I had all this college debt on my back. I was desperate. Then I got a phone call from this construction company I'd never heard of. At the interview, they were like 'Hey, come to Venom. We've got this big weather research station we're building and we need help. Wanna come along?' I was curious why they wanted to build there, but then I shut up once they offered me a ridiculous salary to do it. It would have wiped out all my student loan debt in just a year or two, even with day-to-day living expenses. Of course I said yes. I was about to be homeless and over a hundred thousand credits in debt.

"Later I found out it was really a fake company, and I was going to be building military bases for Andross' new empire, but well… Even if I was tricked, I didn't have anything to go back to on Macbeth if I left. With Andross, I had money. I had food. I had a roof over my head. I was happy just for that. I stayed on Venom the entire war, so I never got to see any action until Star Fo-"

Wolf growled as he turned to George, ears flattening and tail thrashing about.

George's eyes widened. "Sorry." He let out a cough. "I heard we did some bad stuff on other planets, but it was so far away. Out of sight, out of mind you know. Even if I thought about leaving, I'm sure you know what Andross does to deserters."

"Yeah…" Wolf nodded with a grim expression. "Heard about one guy who got thrown in a pit full of some mutated monsters. Andross created them to be bio weapons. And I heard about another guy who was executed by anti-aircraft gun."

"And the 'reeducation' camps…" George exhaled, like thinking about them took his breath away.

Wolf's eye widened at that. "You know about them? Andross told even me that they didn't exist."

"Really?" George turned from his work, his jaw dropping as he looked over at Wolf. "That is something… Just think. He was ok with us knowing that he'd execute deserters in cruel and unorthodox ways, but he denies the camps exist. Why is that? What was he doing with the camps?"

"I have no idea, and we'll probably never know now. How did you know about them?"

"Saw some construction plans that looked suspect a year or two ago. The top of the diagram said 'Site X-22', and most of the buildings were labelled as army barracks. But who the hell builds army barracks in a desert in the middle of nowhere, within the reach of an active volcano? I mean, with lava boiling in the crater. And why did the plans call for erecting a metal grated platform over the crater? What would that be for?"

Wolf didn't want to think about it. This discussion reminded him of Leon's favorite hobby: torture. While there was no questioning the effectiveness of his tortures in extracting valuable intel and ransoms for Star Wolf, the concept of torture freaked Wolf out. He didn't want anything to do with it. When Leon had a 'guest' around, Wolf would just leave the chameleon to his business and depart for a day or two, so he didn't have to listen to the screams. What Andross did in those camps was probably like that, but on an even grander and more grotesque scale.

Bizarrely, a smile crossed George's face at that moment. Wolf gave him a funny look.

"Don't worry." George raised a hand up to reassure him. "I was just thinking. Even if I'm a fugitive, now I think Andross' empire crumbling was for the best. After working for Andross for so long, I turned a blind eye to a lot of things. The camps? The bioweapons? The executions? I just kept my head down and focused on my work. Talking about it now though… I can't believe I just pretended none of it was happening for so long. Maybe it was just my way of coping with reality. I guess I just feel a little bit better knowing it's over, and that you feel the same way about it that I do. Just…thank you."

The thanks felt like it came out of nowhere, so it took Wolf a moment to reply. He awkwardly smiled. "…Sure." Wolf scratched a spot on his back. He'd been wearing his flight suit for the past several days at this point. It was dirty and sweaty, and he hadn't had a shower in ages. "Ugh… I could use a change of clothes."

George smiled, walking to the end of the aisle they were in. "I think the solution for that is right over here." With an exaggerated flourish, he waved for Wolf to walk behind the last row of grocery shelves.

The lupine raised an eyebrow, but stepped behind the shelves anyway. Looking around, he saw the general store also had a small clothing section. And it was all redneck and country stuff filling the racks and shelves. Jeans. Leather boots. Ten gallon hats. Handkerchiefs. Fringe jackets. Button-down shirts with snap fasteners. Duster coats. Wolf just shook his head, turning back to George. "You're joking. I'm not dressing up in any of this crap."

"I don't know. I think that coat over there would look pretty good on you." George walked over to a rack with a number of long duster coats in a dark brown color. He took one off the rack and offered it to Wolf.

Wolf handled it, looking at it from multiple sides. The leather fabric felt pretty nice, to be honest. Wolf had been a little cold ever since they got here, considering he'd just been wearing his black flight suit since before the final battle with Star Fox. That felt like months ago now.

Wolf slipped the coat on, and stepped in front of a dusty mirror off in the corner. He turned in place a few times to look at it from different angles. A small smile crept onto his face. Actually he did kind of like it. The coat looked good over the black flight suit, and it made Wolf feel like an old-fashioned gun slinger or something.

"Looks like you're having fun with that." George chuckled.

Wolf's smile vanished immediately, as he snapped back to George, the coat twirling around him.

George's eyes widened, as he took a step back. "…Sorry…" He decided to turn his attention to the clothing racks himself, looking for his own suitable replacement outfit.

Turning back to the mirror, Wolf did have to admit the coat was starting to become a guilty pleasure…

* * *

After about twenty more minutes, Wolf and George walked out of the general store, pushing shopping carts piled high with food, water, clothing, credits, and whatever else looked like it was worth pilfering. Wolf glanced at the ship as they approached it. Looked like Alvin was done painting over all the Venomian markings, leaving the ship solid white in color.

Speaking of the gorilla, he stepped around the side of it, from the end with the exit ramp. He was wiping his hands with a rag stained with the same white paint. He'd removed the top half of his armor, leaving behind a sweat-stained T shirt over his dark fur.

Alvin looked between George and Wolf approaching with their haul, and smirked. "Looks like you guys did pretty good. I put some spare containers of fuel on board, plus I looked over all the systems to make sure everything's ok. Once you load your stuff, we can leave. You got some…clothes there?"

"Yeah," George said. "General store had a clothing section. I was getting tired of wearing all this armor, so I thought I'd pick up something to change into."

"Good idea, actually," Alvin rubbed his shoulders. "It was getting too hot and hard to move around in that armor for so long. Looking good in that coat by the way, Wolf."

Wolf blinked, surprised at the attention his wardrobe change brought. "Thanks, I guess."

"What kind of clothes you got there?" Alvin walked closer, craning his neck forwards to look at the garments.

George snickered. "Well, hope you don't mind dressing up like the locals around here."

"I suppose I can manage." Alvin rolled his eyes. "Better than staying in this armor I've worn for the past several days."

"We should hurry up and get the shuttle loaded," Wolf interrupted. He looked off into the distance, down the dusty road. The sky on the horizon was starting to brighten. "Alvin, there's some more carts in the store. You better get those. We'll help you after we load these."

"Okay, boss." Alvin took off running for the store.

Meanwhile, George and Wolf loaded the first two carts. Once that was done, the three of them hurried in and out of the store, hauling everything up the exit ramp and stacking it as well as they could. The spacious-looking cargo bay filled up fast with everything they brought in. There was barely any room to move around in there before long. But at least they wouldn't have to stop again for supplies before leaving Lylat. Hell, the supplies in there were probably overkill for a journey a few times longer than that. Still, better to have too much than not enough.

After setting down another box, Wolf wiped the sweat off of his brow. He was not used to doing manual labor like this, preferring to hire other people to do it for him. Wolf considered himself too much of a hot shot mercenary pilot for this kind of work. But now they were done, and they could leave.

"All right boys…" Wolf said, turning to the two apes. "Think that'll do it. Let's take off and—"

"What about Rachel?" George interrupted. "I thought we were going to give her some supplies too."

After mentioning her, Alvin sighed and looked down at the floor.

Wolf frowned. He'd been in such a hurry to leave he'd completely forgotten about her, and he felt a slight twinge of guilt over it. "Guess you're right. Okay. Alvin, you get the ship ready to leave. George and I will fill some boxes for Rachel."

Picking up a spare cardboard box, Wolf looked through their haul, picking out things he thought a little girl might like. Chocolate, rainbow-colored cereal, instant macaroni and cheese… He topped it off with some healthier things for balance though, like canned vegetables. Within a few minutes he'd finished the task. George had done the same. They walked over towards Rachel's house, Wolf walking in through the front door without bothering to knock.

Rachel still sat on the couch, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders as the warmth and glow of the fireplace's blaze pressed on her face. She looked like she hadn't moved from the spot since they'd left her. Her ears perked up as they entered, turning to face them. "Is that you Wolf?"

"Yes, Rachel." Wolf sat the box down next to her. "We brought you some food. Should be enough to keep you going until someone can pick you up."

"Do you have to leave me here?" she whimpered. "I've never been all alone before. I'm scared."

Wolf looked away from the kitten, feeling awkward. Even if this had to be done, he didn't feel good about it. An idea struck him. "Well… We'll call for someone to come by and find you. How about that?" Maybe that would make her time alone shorter and more bearable.

"C-can I ask you something?" Rachel asked.

Wolf didn't like how Rachel ignored his proposal, but he let it slide. "What is it?"

"This town's not my real home. My mom and dad divorced before the Lylat Wars. Mommy sent me here to live with Dad so I'd be safe. I was wondering… Could you take me back home to Mom?"

Despite the surprise request, Wolf actually felt somewhat relieved. At least she still had another parent who could look after her. They just had to get her home. Maybe it was another town somewhere on this planet, or maybe the next planet over. "Where is home?"

"Katina."

Wolf's eye widened. So much for that plan. Katina was right in the middle of Lylat, and a very long trip from where they were now. Even worse, Wolf knew that Katina was a major Cornerian military hub as well, so there'd be Cornerian forces everywhere around there. Wolf wanted to help her more, but it was just too dangerous of a trip for him, George, and Alvin. "Sorry Rachel. But we've got another battle we've got to go after this," Wolf lied, keeping up the Cornerian soldiers story. "We can't take you along."

Despite being blind, Rachel's unseeing eyes felt like they were piercing Wolf's soul as she faced him. Her pointed cat ears deflated against her head, as she pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself. "Oh..." She looked to be on the verge of tears again, as her long fluffy tail lowered to the floor.

Wolf hated to leave her here, but he figured this was the best way to handle this situation. Someone would find her later, maybe a state trooper or something, and-

George tapped Wolf on the shoulder. The lupine turned around, as the monkey gestured for the doorway. Frowning, Wolf turned back to Rachel. "We'll be right back, OK Rachel?"

"Where are you going this time?" She sounded terrified, as if they were leaving forever.

"George…just wanted to tell me something. That's all. We'll be right back."

"Okay…"

Frowning at George, Wolf stalked out of the house, with George in tow. He closed the front door behind them. After pacing a few steps away from the door, he spun around to face George, folding his arms. "What is it this time?" He growled.

"Come on Wolf!" George pointed back at Rachel's house. "You're still going to just leave her here, when she's got a mom who can look after her?"

Wolf sighed, rolling his eyes. "This shit again?"

"The least you could do after killing her father is make sure she gets back to her mother!"

"You're pushing your luck, kid. I told you. Let's leave it to the authorities. Someone will find her, they'll get in contact with her mom, and then they'll take her home. Meanwhile, we escape the system and start new lives. A happy ending for everyone."

"A dead father is a happy ending for Rachel?"

"At least she won't have to worry about the Lylat Wars anymore."

George shook his head. "No, you're wrong."

Wolf narrowed his eye. "What do you mean?"

"The effects of war don't stop when the war ends. The Lylat System is torn to pieces now. Everything's in shambles. It's all got to get rebuilt. Industry's got to get going again. So does agriculture. The top priority of governments is going to be those things, because that gets the economy going again and generates taxes. Refugees won't be the first priority. It could be a really long time before the government is able to buy Rachel a ticket home. Maybe months or even years, stuck in a refugee camp somewhere. Those camps get filthy and disease-ridden in a hurry. She could get sick easily. And all that time she'll be without her mom or dad. She won't have anyone to look after her. I know some of these things firsthand. Macbeth was in a civil war when I was a little kid. Had to live in a tent city forever, and I lost my mom to sickness from having to live in one of those camps."

Wolf was speechless. He hadn't considered any of that at all. Perhaps it's because he was a mercenary. He'd seen many different conflict zones over the years, since he was paid to fight in all of them. But when the contract ended with his client, he was out of there and onto the next battle. He never got to know any of the places he fought in, beyond what he needed to do his job. What would happen to the people living in those places after he left never crossed his mind. What George just said was very eye-opening.

"Look Wolf," George continued. "We've got a ship. We could get her back to her mother in a matter of days or weeks. We should do it. You don't want her to end up suffering through living in a camp, do you?"

While a very persuasive argument, Wolf still didn't think it would be possible to go to Katina right now. He hated to shut down George, but it had to be done. "What about the Cornerians? How are we going to slip past them?"

"Alvin repainted the ship, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's expecting we'll just flee for the system's border. It's a whole other thing going to Katina. That's Corneria's biggest military hub after Corneria itself. Hell, we might get identified by the ship model instead, long before we get anywhere near the place. Bet every Cornerian vessel between here and Katina's got lists of Venomian vessel types uploaded into their computers now."

"There's a civilian version of our ship. If we get stopped, we can just say that's what it is. We can tear off anything else that identifies it as Venomian."

Wolf shook his head. "There's still another big problem, even if that works. I was Andross' most famous pilot. I bet my mug is pasted on wanted posters on every wall, newspaper, bulletin board, and asteroid in the Lylat System by now. If we have to leave the ship and someone sees me, we're all going to get caught."

"What about the clothes we picked up? I bet they'll be good as a disguise." George pointed at the duster Wolf was wearing. "You could finish off your outfit with one of those ten gallon hats and wear sunglasses instead of that eyepatch. It'd cover up your face pretty good."

Wolf growled, his tail angrily flicking behind him. "No way in hell I'm putting on one of those stupid hats. Besides, aren't _you_ worried about getting caught and going to prison?"

"If we do get caught, I think the time in prison will a suitable payment for all the things I've done."

"But you killed that cop to escape jail."

"I know… And I already regret it," George sighed and looked at the ground for a moment. "I just…you forced me to make a snap decision. I never want to kill another person for as long as I live. I at least want Rachel to be happy, as penance for what I did."

"We're not taking Rachel to Katina, and that's that. End of story." Wolf marched over to the door of Rachel's house. "Now come on. Let's say goodbye and get out of here. Sun's almost up."

George twisted his face into a hideous snarl, but fell into step behind Wolf. The two of them stepped back into the house.

Rachel looked up at them again with those sparkling blue eyes, holding her blanket tight around herself. "Are…are you going now?"

"…Yeah." Goodness. Wolf had a hard time maintaining his resolve in the face of her being so damned teary-eyed and afraid. "Sorry, but we can't go to Katina right now. You'll just have to stay here and wait for someone to find you. I'm sure you won't have to wait for too long."

Rachel went quiet, looking down at the floor as she sat on the couch. "I just….I just wish I could go with you. Dad's dead…I'm all alone here. All alone… I want Mom…"

Good thing she was blind, or she Wolf's miserable look on his face right away and-

Rachel jumped off the couch and wrapped her arms around Wolf, hugging him again. "Thanks for taking me home…I guess." She pulled back a little to look up at Wolf, her fuzzy tail flicking back and forth in curiosity. "But, I can feel you trembling. Are you afraid of something? Are there more Venomians out there?"

Wolf's eyes widened, surprised by her move. "N-no… I'm just cold. It's really cold at night here." Amazing how this little girl put more fear into him than the mightiest opponents he faced during the Lylat Wars.

"Then maybe you should take this…" Rachel removed the blanket from her shoulders and offered it to Wolf.

Wolf's jaw dropped. However, he pushed the blanket away and back towards Rachel. "Oh no, I couldn't. You should keep it."

"Are you sure?" She still held it out in front of her. "I just wanted to say thanks for something else."

"What?"

"For getting rid of the bad guys in my own. Hope you make the Lylat System safe again. You're a Cornerian soldier. You're working hard to keep us all safe. You worked hard to keep me safe. I just wanted to give you something for doing all that…"

"No really, it's fine. Besides, you're little. You can't hold in as much body heat," Wolf draped the blanket back over her shoulders. "I can see you shivering already. You really should keep it."

"Oh… All right," Rachel looked down at the floor, teary-eyed. "Well… I hope the war doesn't last too much longer."

"Don't worry. It feels like it's already over. Not many Venomians left now."

That didn't seem to give Rachel much comfort, since she seemed to ignore it as she looked back up at Wolf. "…I hope I see Mom soon."

Wolf had to hold his breath for a moment, finding it hard to look Rachel in the face even though she couldn't see his face. "Yeah, me too. But we've got to go. Goodbye Rachel."

"Okay…" She sniffed, and rubbed her nose. She gave Wolf one last hug before pulling away. Goodbye…"

"Goodbye Rachel," George said, a very sad tone in his voice.

"Bye George," Rachel said, standing there and looking at the two of them.

Wolf and George stepped out of the house, glancing one more time at the kitten before they closed the door behind them. The walk back to the shuttle felt like it took hours. Wolf felt as though hundred pound weights were attached to his feet. What he was doing had to be done, but never before had guilt felt like such a heavy burden upon him. The sound of the shuttle's engines spinning up filled the air.

Alvin stood beside the warmed-up shuttle, waiting for them. "So…we finally ready to go? Say your goodbyes?"

"…Yes," Wolf responded, deciding to say something before the guilt made him hesitate.

Alvin gave Wolf a funny look, but turned to climb back into the shuttle. Wolf followed in after him, making his way through the cargo bay to the cockpit. George and Alvin stayed behind in the cargo bay, trying to wriggle into a position that would be comfortable for sleep. Climbing into the pilot's seat, Wolf set the flight computer for the fastest course that would take them out of Lylat. Pressing the buttons to input all of that felt surprisingly draining. Who could blame him though? They'd been on the run for a few days now, and hadn't got much in the way of sleep.

 _Yeah…I'm sure it's that. Not the fact that you murdered someone in cold blood and left his daughter alone and abandoned at their empty home._

Wolf engaged the thrusters, taking one last look at Rachel's house. She'd moved outside. He saw her standing there by the front door, looking in the ship's direction. She waved them goodbye, still believing Wolf's story that they were going out to fight the good fight instead of running for the border like the criminals they were. The ship started to rise up into the sky, leaving her behind. She grew smaller and smaller, along with the house. But even from this distance, Wolf imagined the look on her face must be one of devastation. Not being able to see her face in the dark left a lot to the imagination.

He started to imagine her walking back into that empty house, all by herself, to wait who knows for how long for an unknown future. Who would find her first there? Would it really be someone willing to help her? What it if it was a bandit? Would they spare her as Wolf had? The more Wolf thought about it, the more naïve he realized it was to believe that she'd be fine all by herself in that house. It was only just now starting to sink in as they pulled away. All thoughts of running for the border were pushed aside.

"Damn it…" Wolf couldn't take it anymore. He lowered the thrust on the engines, letting the ship settle back down towards the ground.

The cockpit door opened next to Wolf, Alvin stepping inside and giving Wolf a weird look. "Why are we going down? You forget something?"

Wolf shook his head. "No…I've changed my mind. Rachel's got to come with us."

Alvin's mouth dropped open, in a big 'O' shape. After he recovered his composure, he started to blabber in a confused matter. "What? Seriously? But how is taking her out of Lylat going t-"

"No. We're taking her home to Katina."

Alvin's mood instantly changed from confused to downright angry. "What the hell?!" he screamed. Are you insane?"

It did feel insane to Wolf. And yet he realized he didn't want to stop this course of action. "I don't care if it's insane or not. Rachel is coming with us."

"No! No no no! You're taking us out of Lylat right now!" Alvin shouted it out, as if he was the one in charge.

Wolf ignored Alvin, as the ship landed back on the street. The lupine hurried out of the ship, back towards Rachel. She walked towards where the ship had landed again, looking confused about what was going on.

"Why did you come back?" She asked, upon hearing Wolf's footsteps coming towards her.

"We just got a message from the top. We don't have to go fight now, so we can go home. Our base is on Katina. We'll give you a ride back to your mom's. How does that sound?"

She gasped in surprise, clasping her hands together. It took her a little time before she was able to speak. "R-really? You can take me home?" Rachel was barely able to say it, the happiness overwhelming her.

Her happiness felt infectious to Wolf. He found himself smiling and laughing seeing that she was happy. "Yeah! We can. Let's hurry up and get your stuff!"

"Oh Wolf! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Suddenly Rachel jumped at Wolf, wrapping her arms and legs around him, her long fluffy tail swishing in the wind. While surprised at being glomped like that, Wolf smiled and quickly wrapped his arms around her to hold her up. He grinned, carrying her back to the house. Although he felt great now, in the back of his mind, he prayed he wasn't going to regret this.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alvin observed the pair from the shuttle's open loading door, a dark look on his face.

"This is great!" George laughed, standing beside him to watch as well. "He finally came around!"

George smiled at Alvin, but the gorilla returned it with an angry scowl. Sensing that his happiness wasn't welcome, George decided to walk back into the shuttle. Meanwhile, Alvin resumed glaring as Wolf carried Rachel back to her house.

That child was going to ruin everything. There was no way they could make it all the way to Katina and then escape the system. The Cornerians would spot them and arrest them long before that. He had to do something, or he was going to prison again. But what could he do? Abandoning the group wasn't an option, because then he'd be without a ship and as good as captured. Talking wouldn't work either. It was George who convinced Wolf to do this in the first place. Thus, it was his vote against the other three members of his new party. He was isolated. This called for drastic action. A few options came to mind, none of them pleasant. But Alvin had been to prison once before.

"I'm not going back…" he whispered. He was going to stay out of prison, and he was prepared to pay any price for that.

Brooding, Alvin went back into the ship's cargo bay and sat down. As he lowered himself back down to a bench to go to sleep, he began to concoct plans in his head for how to deal with this new Rachel problem…

* * *

 _A/N: I'm pleased with how this chapter turned out, but it feels like this story is rather difficult for me to write. I needed several evening sessions of writing and editing to finish it. I think I've mentioned this before, but I've never tried writing a dramatic story like this before. It's probably due to my inexperience. I'm hoping it gets easier over time. Chapter 5 has been the high point of difficulty so far (so much that I had Elarix beta it) but 6 and 7 both felt a little bit easier than that._

 _Oh yeah… And it doesn't help that Fallout 4 is fighting for my attention nowadays too… I can play that game for over six hours at a time without leaving the couch. It's that addictive. But I put it aside so I could get out this chapter. I really wanted to post something since I know it's been a long time since my last chapter._

 _Next up should be another chapter of Hazardous Contents, and I'm hoping that'll be done within a week from how. It's already written, but I expect there will be significant edits like there was for Chapter 2 of that fic. We'll see._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Wolf and George went through Rachel's house, packing up things she wanted to bring along with her to Katina. Before long, they filled several boxes, suitcases, and other containers. Family photos, a treasured blanket, a favorite snack food, a beloved stuffed toy… While it felt odd being ordered around by a ten year old kitten, Wolf didn't mind. It was the least he could do for her.

After they finished packing, George picked up a suitcase while Wolf slung a pink My Little Peony backpack over his shoulder. The lupine could not imagine what his teammates would think of him wearing such a thing. Then again…My Little Peony did have a sizeable adult fanbase, even if it was a show about talking flowers…

He looked over at Rachel, still standing near the front door. "Okay Rachel, are you ready to go to the shuttle?"

Even though she couldn't see, the kitten's eyes moved across her small home. Wolf hadn't thought about this before, but now he realized this would probably be the last time she came to this house. Even though she didn't answer his question, Wolf remained silent to let her take in all the sounds and smells. "Rachel, are you ready?" he asked again, after a few minutes' wait.

She sniffed, looking up at Wolf. "I…think so." Her voice cracked, sounding unsure.

"Are you sure?" Wolf put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Rachel looked around the room one more time. "Yeah… L-let's go." The kitten put a smaller hand on Wolf's.

The lupine grasped her hand, hard enough to maintain grip and yet not so hard as to cause discomfort, tugging her towards the front door. They stepped back into the cool night air, walking down the dirt pathway to the shuttle. George fell in behind them, lugging a suitcase.

Halfway back, Rachel looked up at Wolf. "How long till I see Mom?"

"Hard to say Rachel," Wolf turned his head down to the kitten. Now that he knew he wanted to help her, he found it much easier to look her in the face. "The war's almost over but there's still some Venomians here and there. We may get attacked on the way back." Of course, that would be Wolf's excuse if _Cornerians_ attacked them on the way back.

Rachel's lip trembled at the mention of Venomians. "Are we gonna be OK?"

Wolf smiled. "You'll be just fine with me around. Don't worry."

Rachel sniffled, rubbing a tear out of her eye. "Okay… I trust you Wolf."

Wolf almost wanted to laugh at that, considering so far he'd lied to her about almost everything. They arrived back into the shuttle, Wolf guiding Rachel up the rear ramp with his hand. As they went, Wolf called back to George. "Hey, you think you could get the rest of her things, George? I'm going to help get her settled in."

"Sure thing, Wolf." George smiled and gave a thumbs up, setting down the suitcase as he went back into the house.

Meanwhile, Wolf and Rachel reached the top of the cargo ramp. The back of the shuttle overflowed with plundered goods from the town, leaving only a narrow passage to walk through along the port side. Wolf went first, helping her to not to trip or bump into anything. But even with her blindness, Rachel still couldn't help but notice the various containers and boxes. She ran her hand along them for balance.

"Wow! What's all this stuff?"

"Uh…" Wolf put his tongue in his cheek, as he thought up another lie. "We didn't get enough supplies to make it home. So command gave us permission to take things from the town to help us get home."

"But that's stealing, isn't it? The desert bandits do that too."

Wolf smirked. "It's not stealing if the government does it."

"It's still not right! They shouldn't do that!"

Wolf couldn't help but spare a chuckle. _I feel the same way, sweetheart. Taxes are cancer…_

"Well…" She looked back up at Wolf. "I guess its ok, if it helps get you home. I wanna go home to Mom too…"

They reached the front of the cargo area, just behind the cockpit door. Wolf instructed Alvin and George to keep this part of the compartment open, so they'd have a place to sit down and sleep.

The lupine guided Rachel over to a section of the starboard bench they'd left free of cargo. "Okay, you can sit here."

"Thanks…" Her voice sounded distant as she took her seat.

An uncomfortable silence lingered as Wolf put down her backpack. Looking down at her, he didn't know what to say now. She sniffled a few more times, the only sound aside from George packing up the last of her things in the back of the cargo bay.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

"It's…well…" A tear ran down her face. "I just…I can't believe all this. Our town got attacked and…daddy's…he's dead." She looked like she wanted to cry more, but she'd already spent those tears. Rachel's ears folded backwards, as she buried her face in her hands. "And now…we're just going. That's it."

Wolf's own ears drooped downwards, his tail going still. His business was war. War left children with dead parents like this. He never stopped to think about any of those children though. What was that phrase? One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic? Supposedly, that had something to do with how the average person's brain worked. Not many people could imagine a million of anything. Could there be thousands, or tens of thousands of other Rachels out there that he created himself in the pursuit of money? He just couldn't see it in his head.

In fact, sitting in that fighter during combat, sometimes he felt like he was just playing a video game. It felt so impersonal to shoot down a fighter, or blow up a cruiser, or bomb a town. It all just looked like a bunch of polygons to him from so far away, since he couldn't see the faces of the people he killed. He almost never had to confront his battlefield actions on a personal level like this. The longer he stayed with Rachel, the more he felt strange and uncomfortable feelings coursing through him. Feelings like guilt and sorrow. At first he resisted the feelings, but now he didn't want to push them away. Why was that?

Shaking his head, he took a seat next to the kitten, putting a comforting arm around the back of her neck and down her shoulder. She leaned into him, still crying away about it all. They just sat there for a few minutes, Wolf unaware of anything except the girl's warmth and beating heart next to him. To think…it was because of him she suffered like this. He'd almost forgotten that, like someone else caused this instead of him. Like the Wolf that shot the father and the Wolf that existed afterward were two different people.

She just kept laying against him, feeling like a lifeless stuffed toy as she did so. He looked down, noticing her eyes were closed. "Are you tired?"

Rachel sniffled again, rubbing her eyes. No response, but Wolf didn't mind. She'd been through a lot today.

"Well…I'll see if I can find you a blanket or something." Wolf patted her on the back, standing up from the bench. "You may as well try to sleep. There's not much to do until we get to Katina. Is that OK?"

"Okay…" She said, red teary eyes looking up at him.

Looking into them for a moment, Wolf turned away to begin his search for blankets. After a few minutes, he pulled out two rolled up sleeping bags. When he couldn't find any pillows, he rolled up some large size T-shirts into makeshift pillows. He laid one bag and shirt pillow for Rachel across the bench.

"Will this be okay?" He helped her get into the sleeping bags.

"I guess so…" she murmured, as she slipped into it.

"Okay." He nodded. "There's some things I have to do right now, but I'm going to sleep on the floor next to your bench. You let me know if you need anything, all right?"

"All right…" She laid back on her pillow, looking at him one more time. "Goodnight, Wolf." She turned over on her side, settling into a restless-looking sleep.

Wolf stood back up. Pausing for a moment, he smiled and pat her on the shoulder. "'Night Rachel."

After looking at her one last time, he turned his eye to the cockpit. A snort interrupted his thoughts, coming from the bench on the other side of the cargo bay. Looking over there, Wolf spotted Alvin sleeping there. He'd been so absorbed with Rachel he hadn't even noticed the gorilla until now. Despite sleeping, Alvin held a monstrous snarl on his face, angry about something. But Wolf paid it no mind for now. He had something to do first.

Wolf opened the door into the cockpit, and then an orange light struck him in his face. Shielding his eye, he saw the light coming in through the front window, the sun peeking out over the horizon now. So much for 'Goodnight'. The sight made Wolf feel so weary, reminding him of how long he'd been up between attacking this town, plundering it, and then getting Rachel settled in. He could feel his eyes drooping and his shoulders sagging just standing here. But he put it aside for the moment. He just had to get the autopilot programmed. Once that was done, he could settle in for a nice sleep while the ship flew itself to their destination.

Wolf climbed into the pilot's seat, booting up the autopilot's computer. As he waited, the lupine's thoughts turned to the logistics of the trip ahead. While plundering the town, Wolf made it a priority to scavenge every last drop of fuel, and he kept close track of all the amounts they discovered during their looting. But when he totaled up all the fuel quantities in his head, Wolf realized they hadn't found a whole lot. Although that made sense… Why would anyone in this little backwater town stock up enough fuel for an interplanetary trip?

Still though, going all the way to Katina with no fuel stops would be a stretch. They only had just enough to get there, by his mental calculations. Any side trips, any having to waste time playing hide and seek with the Cornerians, and they'd be in danger of being adrift in space with an empty tank. Even if they did made the full trip in one go, they'd have to acquire gas again somewhere on Katina after dropping Rachel off…a rather risky endeavor since Katina had the highest Cornerian military concentration outside of Corneria itself. No, Wolf wanted _out_ of Katina once Rachel was home again. So it would be best if they made a pit stop somewhere along the way instead.

But where would they stop? The Cornerians no doubt crawled all over Lylat now that the Venomians were routed. As the autopilot finished booting up, it displayed a map of the Lylat System. Wolf looked over the planets between here and Katina. Fichina? Nope…the Cornerians kept a big base there. Wolf knew all too well, because Fox stopped him from destroying it earlier in the war. Titania? Nothing there but sandy wasteland and all kinds of fun, cuddly wildlife like giant carnivorous sandworms.

Fortuna? That seemed like the only realistic option, now that he thought about it. Like Papetoon, not much happened there during the war considering there wasn't much worth fighting over. Just a few small jungle settlements, some mining/industrial operations, and that was it. Odds were pretty good the Cornerian military wouldn't be out in force over there. Heck, it'd be even easier to move around there than Papetoon. Fortuna didn't even have a centralized government, so every town or settlement there basically had to fend for itself. How could you find the time to look out for fugitives when you're just barely getting by in the jungle? And with the money they'd looted from Ruvac, they could simply pay for gas to keep their profile low. That decided it for Wolf.

He programmed the appropriate waypoints for a trip to Katina with a stopover at Fortuna. Now that he was actually punching in their course, Wolf started seriously thinking about what an awful risk this all was. It felt somewhat arrogant to just tell the computer to take them to Katina, like nothing between here and their destination mattered. Heck, why not just set a course for the Cornerian military's main base on Corneria itself? Nonetheless, Wolf felt dead set on helping Rachel now, and finished putting in the coordinates anyway. Done, he rose up from the chair, stepping back into the cargo bay.

Wolf spotted Alvin still asleep on that bench. The lupine walked down the steps, tapping the gorilla on the shoulder. "Hey, rise and shine."

"What do you want?" Alvin grumbled, rolling over. He cracked open one angry eye, scowling at Wolf and sounding like a little kid that didn't want to wake up for school.

Wolf softly growled, not liking the attitude, but brushed it aside. "We're about to take off. Ship's got autopilot, but we need someone to stay awake in case there's trouble. We'll do it in four hour shifts." He pointed at Alvin. "You're gonna do it first."

"Why me first?" Alvin groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

Wolf sighed, starting to feel impatient with Alvin's protesting. "Well, you lazy bum, you're doing it first because you didn't help us pack Rachel's stuff."

Upon the mention of Rachel, the gorilla looked at the kitten sleeping on the opposite bench, putting on an even more twisted scowl than before. "I still think this is stupid, Wolf."

"Well _I'm_ the one in charge here, and I say we're doing it." Wolf growled, giving Alvin a glimpse of his teeth for emphasis.

Alvin shifted into a sitting position, putting him at closer to eye level with Wolf. "Who put you in charge? After all, wasn't it me and George who saved you on Venom? I don't owe _you_. You owe _me_." The gorilla pointed a thumb at himself.

Wolf narrowed his eye. "I helped you two steal all this stuff." Wolf waved his hand at their cargo. "You couldn't have done it without me. I know a lot more about leading people into battle than you ever well."

"Yeah?" Alvin stood up off the bench, bringing himself up to eye level with Wolf. "Well I'm not one of your Star Wolf lackeys. I'm not gonna roll over for you like they do."

Snarling, Wolf drew back his arm to punch Alvin in the face. Before he could, George jumped in between the two of them. "You two… You've got to stop arguing! What if Rachel hears what you're saying?" He gestured to the sleeping kitten.

Wolf looked over, seeing Rachel still thankfully asleep but tossing and turning. In any case, George raised a good point. Wolf calmed himself by paying attention to his breathing, letting the breaths flow in and out slowly.

Now that everyone was relaxed a bit, George spoke again, this time in a whisper so Rachel wouldn't over hear. "Look… I said it before. We can't be fighting like this. Not when we've got a whole star system against us."

He looked over to Alvin. "I tell you what. I'll take the first shift if you don't want to do it. How about that?"

Alvin glowered at the two of them, switching his glare between both George and Wolf. Sighing, the gorilla shook his head. "No…I'll do it."

George gasped, surprised. "Wha? Why?"

Alvin climbed up the stairs into the cockpit, giving one last glare at Wolf. "I don't feel like being in the same room as _him_ right now." He slammed the cockpit door shut so loud it sounded like a gunshot

Rachel gasping and whimpered in her sleep at the sound. Wolf turned to look at her. She kept tossing and turning, not being able to achieve a restful sleep. Wolf found his anger melting away as he looked at her.

"Poor thing…" George crossed his arms. "She's probably gonna have PTSD now…" He looked back at Wolf. "I guess there isn't much we can do for her right now though."

Wolf nodded.

George gestured to the bench. "Is it OK if I sleep there?"

Wolf looked at the bench. "Sure. I'm too big for sleeping on that anyway. I'll take the floor." Wolf smiled, as he turned to get his sleeping bag. He wanted to be close to Rachel anyway, like he promised earlier.

As Wolf laid out his bag, Alvin started to spin up the engines. Within minutes they were off, rapidly rising in to the skies. The lupine got settled in, letting the soft vibration of the engines lull him into a nice slumber. It turned out to be rather easy to nod off once he was comfortable in his bag. However, his dreams were anything but restful. He kept dreaming over and over again about the back door of this shuttle flying open and showing a bright light. Two large figures would walk inside, silhouetted by the bright light behind them. They were Cornerian, clad in power armor and pointing massive laser miniguns at him, lying helpless on the floor. Then he dreamed about the soldiers taking him to a prison quarry on a mineral asteroid somewhere, dooming him to a life of hard labor. The dream repeated again for what felt like the fortieth time, with one of the soldiers reaching down to grab him. But this time, Wolf felt like somebody was grabbing him in real life. Startled awake, his eye shot open to see Rachel looking down at him. Seeing her face right next to his caused him to let out a startled gasp.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Rachel stepped back, paw over her mouth. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah…" Wolf sighed.

"Well…can I sleep next to you?"

Wolf's ears shot up, surprised by the request. "Uh…why?"

"Well…it's cold in here, and you…you're really big and warm."

Wolf noticed her shivering. He thought about it for a second, and gave her a little smile. "Okay, sure."

"Oh, thank you Wolf!"

Wolf settled back down onto the floor, the kitten putting her sleeping bag next to his so she could cuddle up next to him. Once she was situated there, Wolf found the feeling extremely strange. This was the first time in decades someone slept within touching distance of him. He didn't have the time or desire for a girlfriend after all. Rachel sleeping next to him though… it wasn't altogether unpleasant. It felt nice knowing that someone else liked you and trusted you enough to sleep that close. And Rachel was right. He realized the inside of this ship was very cold. Her body warmth felt almost as welcoming as his own probably felt to her.

Wolf thought of something as they lay there on the metal floor. "Got to say, I've never seen a type of cat like you before. What's your breed?"

"Uh…lynx point ragdoll. Or that's what mom says anyway…."

"Ragdoll huh? Funny name." Wolf grinned.

"Yeah… My friends at school used to call me Rags."

"That is so cute." He chuckled.

"I guess you can call me Rags too, if you want."

"I'm a little attached to Rachel now," Wolf said. "But maybe I'll change my mind later."

"I haven't seen Mom in five years…"

Wolf looked at her, surprised. But it made sense once he thought about it. The Lylat Wars did last for over half a decade, but knowing that Rachel had to hide on Papetoon all that time saddened him anyway.

"What do you think you'll do when you get home and see her?" he looked over at her.

"Hmm… I don't know." Rachel drew the covers tighter over herself. "Maybe go visit all the places I remember from when I was little."

"Like what?"

"There's this pizza place we went to a lot… Katina Pizza Shack." Rachel's blind eyes gazed up at the ceiling, a nostalgic look on her face. "I'd love to have pizza with Mom. We never got to eat pizza in Ruvac…"

Wolf chuckled. _Ah…kids and their love of pizza._ "Pizza does sound real good right about now…" Wolf wasn't looking forward to eating cold cans of beans and tins of mystery meat during this trip. The shuttle didn't have a kitchen or fridge after all, so the only food they had was non-perishable stuff. Either grains, military rations, or stuff in cans.

Rachel rolled over, sitting up a bit so her face was closer to Wolf's. She smiled at him. "Maybe you could come eat some pizza with us when get to Katina."

Wolf shook his head. "No, that's fine. I'll have to report back to base after I drop you off."

"Aww…too bad." Rachel settled back into her sleeping position. "Mom would love to give you pizza."

 _Nah…she'd probably take one look at me, recognize my handsome face from the wanted posters, and then scream bloody murder when she sees me with her child._

Rachel put a hand across Wolf's face, feeling it up and down.

Wolf blinked, surprised by this. "What are you doing?"

"Well…I want to know your face."

Ah, now it made sense. Like how she 'saw' her father's face earlier by touching it. "Well, okay. Go ahead then." Wolf smiled and laid back, not moving so that she could get a good feel.

She ran her hand up and down his muzzle, feeling his cold nose and the pointy ends of his canine teeth. She reached up and felt his ears too. She scratched behind his ears for a few moments. Wolf found the feeling amazing. No one had done that for him before considering…well, he was Wolf O'Donnell after all. Who'd want to get that close to him?

Rachel's hand stopped when she felt the strap of his eyepatch. "What's this?" Her hand moved up and down the strap.

"Oh…I'm blind in one eye," Wolf grinned. "That's an eyepatch."

"What?" Rachel gasped.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Oh… Wow." Rachel sat up from her sleeping position so she could feel it better. She poked at the patch itself, although Wolf didn't mind. Nothing was behind the patch after all. "You're so big and strong, but this makes you like me, doesn't it?"

"Huh…I guess it does." Wolf chuckled. "Halfway, at least."

"It's just….you're a soldier and you've only got one eye."

"I guess people can do anything, if they put their mind to it. Like you. I can't imagine going through life blind."

"I'm used to it." Rachel sighed, rolling back to lay her head back down on her pillow. "But I still wonder what it's like to see…"

Wolf didn't have a good reply for that. He kinda wanted to help her see again now that she mentioned it, although there wasn't much he could do about that. But at least he could take her home. The lupine let out a big yawn, his long muzzle opening wide to reveal a full set of teeth. After he was done, he said "Ah…I'm real tired now."

"Okay Wolf," Rachel said. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah… Night again, Rachel."

"'Night Wolf…"

* * *

Alvin watched the autopilot's screen, monitoring the ship's journey to Katina. He was still fuming about his argument with Wolf earlier, but something else began to preoccupy his mind as he watched the monitor.

Every second that passed brought them closer to the center of the Lylat System and closer to Cornerian capture. If Alvin was going to do something about that, he needed to do it ASAP. He glanced at the closed cockpit door, with Wolf, Rachel, and George probably sound asleep behind it by now. Maybe he could lock and barricade the cockpit door, turn the ship around, and just race for the system border? Nah… That would require staying locked in the cockpit for a couple weeks at least, plus Wolf or George might figure out a way to break into the cockpit in the meantime.

Or was there some way he could kill Rachel? With her dead, there wouldn't be a reason to go to Katina anymore and Wolf and George would give up on this stupid quest. However, he needed to do it in a way that kept Wolf and George from thinking he did it. That would be tough to pull off. Both of them already knew he didn't like Rachel and didn't want to go to Katina. If Rachel turned up dead at any point during this trip, he'd be the first suspect. So he couldn't just poison her food or something like that. But what else could he do? Being stuck in this tiny shuttle with the other three gave him limited options…

Alvin rubbed his forehead, not knowing how to get out of this predicament. All of the plans he formulated in his head kept ending with him having to kill everyone else in the shuttle. The gorilla scoffed at himself. What a time to grow a conscience, considering all of the killing he did himself during the Lylat Wars. Why couldn't he just do it again, one more time? Because despite the argument he had earlier, Alvin honestly respected what Wolf did for the Venomian Empire and he didn't want to kill him. It would be such a waste for a great pilot like him to die. And George… He shook his head. _No, I won't even think about it._

He eyed the autopilot again, showing their next stop at Fortuna. They'd need to stop there for fuel, he guessed. Wolf no doubt picked it because it was isolated, like Papetoon was. From what he heard, Fortuna was a pretty wild place as far as the law went. At just about every settlement down there, there wasn't much to keep things like bandits, prostitution, slavery, and all other manner of vice in check. That sounded like a place where a little girl could easily disappear, or suddenly turn up dead. Alvin smiled. Maybe this would be the chance he was looking for. He had plenty of time to think about how he would arrange something like that…

The communications console next to the autopilot beeped, startling him. Alvin nearly fell out of his chair. Who could be calling them? Taking a deep breath, Alvin put on a headset and pressed the receive button. He expected to be getting a hailing from Cornerian fighter pilots at their six, ordering them to fly to the nearest Cornerian base or be shot down. Instead, a woman with a robotic voice began speaking a peculiar message.

" _Today is Friday in Cowahornia. Five. Six. Eight. Forty-two. The chickens have come home to roost. One. Thirty. Ninety-nine. A wine-tasting will be held in the barber shop. One. Three. Three. Seven. The thunder echoes through—"_

Alvin's jaw dropped. A coded message from the Venomian Empire! Someone was still out there transmitting this! Alvin took off the headset, jumping out of his seat. He scrambled through the cockpit's storage nooks to find a pen and paper. Sliding back into his chair, he started writing down everything he heard, listening very closely to all the words.

"- _All waiters, this is the five o'clock call for the reckoning. One. Twenty. One. The flap-jaw space shall be in Room Forty-Three. Six. Four. Zero. Any defects in your vehicle will result in a failed_ shaken. _Thirty. Nine. It is requested that all clerks submit their paperwork to the famous purple stuffed worm in flap jaw-space within Hari Kiri. Sixty. One. Out."_

From there, the message repeated a few more times. Alvin checked himself, making sure he got every little bit right. For the first time in many days, Alvin felt ecstatic. The Empire was still out there and functioning. He wasn't alone. He just needed to figure out what the message meant and carry out its instructions. The translation codebook would be hidden digitally somewhere deep within the shuttle's computer system, or so he and George had been briefed. That was before they got sent to find Wolf back on Venom. Well…he did have three and a half more hours alone in the cockpit. That _might_ be enough time to find the digital codebook and work out the translation. He just hoped no one came in here to check on him in the meantime…

* * *

 _A/N: It's been a long time hasn't it? Eight-nine months since my last update? My apologies to everyone who was expecting an update to come much sooner. I'll admit…the main reason I didn't update this story for so long is because I didn't have a plan for where the story would go once Wolf and the others left Papetoon. But I sat down a couple weeks ago to come up with a more solid plotline and an ending, and now I feel much better about getting back into this story._

 _Ha, you know, my original plan was actually to update Hazardous Contents one month, then Love is Blind the other month. Yeah, that worked out real well, didn't it? But maybe now I can get back to doing that. I also did this because I was struggling to begin Hazardous Contents' latest chapter too. This was a nice break from that story._

 _Anyway, for those of you who stuck around waiting for me, apologies again for making you wait so long and a big thank you for waiting on me._

 _P.S. I accidentally posted this chapter on Hazardous Contents first. Sorry for the confusion in your email alerts. This is the problem with me only getting a chance to write, update, and post late at night... It's just both stories coincidentally had seven chapters so I got them mixed up XD  
_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Ow!" Rachel cried out. "Wolf, be careful!"

"Sorry 'bout that." Wolf smirked as he withdrew the brush from the kitten's long cream-colored hair. He'd hit another snag and tugged too hard on her fur. This time, he grasped the hair from its roots and brushed down, being gentler this time.

During this trip, Wolf learned the hard way that while Rachel's plush ragdoll fur looked elegant, it sure did require a lot of maintenance. And since Rachel was blind, she needed help with brushing her hair each day, some sessions taking upwards of half an hour. Either Wolf or George performed the task. The lupine didn't mind though. Not like he had anything better to do, being stuck in this shuttle.

Wolf held onto another lock of her hair, brushing downwards. He hit another snag, yanking Rachel's head back. She yowled, making Wolf wince. "Stop doing that!" She scowled at him.

"Well little Ms. Rachel Mimosa…" He chuckled, throwing in the last name he'd learned from her. "I've done more brushing this past week and a half than I have the entire rest of my life. It's a learning experience. Remember the first day I did this?"

Rachel's ears folded backwards, her tail drooping. "Sorry I clawed you."

"Oh, it's all right princess." Wolf grinned, enjoying teasing her with nicknames. "I've been through a lot, lot worse than that." Wolf almost never bothered brushing his own fur. Nobody paid him to look pretty after all. When he did brush, he pulled as hard as he could, getting rid of tangled hairs and snags with brute force. A little yank here and there didn't bother Wolf at all. But the first day he soon learned Rachel was not him. Whenever he hit a snag, she yowled and nicked him on his arms with her cute little claws. Not like it really hurt him though. Her talons didn't even penetrate the leather on his flight suit. Still, Wolf found himself warming up to this task now, since Rachel loved her brushings. "Shall we continue?"

Rachel nodded, turning around. Wolf kept brushing away.

Silence hovered in the air, but it wasn't long before the kitten broke it again. "Wolf?"

"What?" Wolf held another lock of her hair in hand.

"You never talk about yourself."

"What do you mean?" He slid the brush down.

"Well, every time I ask about what you do, you don't say anything. You just say you're a soldier and that's it."

Wolf's brush halted, his eye narrowing. He felt like he made a mistake letting her know their real names. So when this trip started, Wolf made a deliberate choice to be vague about his history with Rachel, and advised George and Alvin to do the same. "You don't wanna know me kiddo." The lupine shook his head, resuming brushing. "Believe me. Once I get you home, just forget about me."

"Why?" Rachel turned her head to the side. "You're so nice. You brush my hair. You're taking me home to Mom."

 _And I shot your dad. Yeah, I'm a great guy._ Wolf didn't answer Rachel, sticking to his work.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?"

"Nope." Wolf shook his head.

"How come?"

"I don't think a little girl like you wants to know about what I do."

"But I do wanna know!"

"I kill people, Rachel. That's my job. Are you sure you want me to say more?"

At the sound of the word 'kill', Wolf could feel Rachel freezing underneath his hand, even her breathing stopping for a moment. Wolf let out a content nod, hoping that would quiet her down. But she went right back to it just five seconds later. "But… the people you kill. They're bad people, right? Like Venomians?"

Wolf's mouth twisted up. "Yeah," he lied. "Bad people." Those two words of hers still hurt, even a week and a half later.

"Mommy says it's OK if they're bad people."

"What?" Now it was Wolf's turn to freeze. "Your mom said that?"

"Yep. One time I asked her if we could talk to the Venomians. Tell them not to be mean." She spoke in a sing-song kind of voice, as though just talking about some playground bullies. "She said no. She said sometimes you can't just talk. You have to fight, maybe even kill them."

 _That's some momma then_. Wolf sure didn't expect Rachel to have a mother like that. "So what's your mom like then?"

"She's in the army, like you."

Wolf's eye widened. "Really?"

"Yep. But she's not a soldier like you. She's a medic. Instead of fighting the bad guys, she helps our soldiers get better when they get hurt. She lives at a base on Katina."

Wolf's hand stopped. A base now? _We have to take her into a Cornerian military base to get her home?_ That was some new information. Wolf wondered how they'd deal with that. Nonetheless, he resumed brushing so as not to seem out of character to Rachel. "Is that why you got sent away to your dad on Papetoon?"

"Yeah, Mommy didn't think I'd be safe at the base during the war. That's why she sent me to live with Dad, even though they're divorced."

"Sounds like they both really love you though."

"They do… I wanted them to get back together." Rachel sniffed, a tear rolling down from her face. "But we can't do it now. Dad's dead."

Silence. What could Wolf say to that? He'd changed her life forever, and couldn't take it back no matter how much he wished it now. Sure, they were taking her back home to Mom, but… Well, they were divorced so they were already apart, so… _Oh come on. Quit bullshitting yourself. You're only thinking these things so you'll feel better._

Meanwhile, Rachel's tears rolled down her face in earnest now, Wolf hearing the soft whimpering as he kept brushing away. She spent most of the first day on this shuttle crying like that, not talking to anyone. George suggested the idea of brushing her to cheer her up, and that's how this started. It helped somewhat, but Rachel still had little breakdowns and crying fits every few hours or so. There wasn't a whole lot to distract her from her thoughts in a place like this.

A snort interrupted Wolf's thoughts. "Would you shut her up already?" Alvin growled.

Wolf glared in the sleepy voice's direction. Alvin lay on the bench on the other side of the cargo bay, hands behind his head, frown on his face, and eyes shut. He'd maintained that position for most of this journey, only getting up to eat, take care of personal hygiene, or fly the shuttle when it was his turn. Heck, those were the first words from the gorilla's mouth in several hours.

Considering Alvin's attitude towards Rachel, Wolf didn't mind too much. The fewer words they exchanged, the better. When it was Alvin's time to fly the shuttle, Wolf tapped him on the shoulder and Alvin just got up and went into the cockpit. While welcome, Alvin's persistent silence surprised Wolf. He thought the gorilla would be a lot more vocal and argumentative during this trip.

In any case, Wolf stepped back from Rachel, admiring his handiwork. Her long cream hair flowed down her back, completely straight and tangle-free. "Looks like I'm done Rachel."

Rachel felt a hand through her long locks, tear trails on her face. "Th-thank you, Wolf." Her voice sounded distant, although Wolf couldn't blame her.

"You're welcome." Wolf sat the brush down on a nearby stack of boxes.

Rachel felt her way along the cargo containers, Wolf guiding her to sit down on the bench opposite Alvin. She turned her head up to Wolf. "So… are we at Fortuna yet?"

Wolf smiled. Ah… just like those roadtrip episodes in family sitcoms. _Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet…_ In reality, he felt about the same way she did, and he suspected Alvin and George had cabin fever too. All of them wanted out of this crate. This was no way to travel, being stuck in a cargo bay packed so tight you could barely move without tripping over something or somebody else. The only place for a little privacy was the closet-sized latrine to the left of the cockpit's door, and that didn't block out much of the noise or the smell—a clear sign the filters needed replacing. It felt worse than riding in cattle class on a spaceliner ship.

"I don't know how close we are Rachel, but I'll go check." He walked past the kitten, pulling open the cockpit's door. George sat at the controls this time, Wolf stepping in behind him. "Little Miss Priss wants to know how much longer it is till we get to Fortuna. Got any updates?"

George smiled back. "Right over there." The spider monkey pointed a finger towards a green ball in the center of the front window, growing in size.

That was Fortuna, all right. Vast forested areas covered the planet's continents, ranging from subtropical to boreal forests; monsoons or hurricanes kept flood rains pouring down much of the year due to the planet's dense atmosphere, verging on the barest minimum of habitability for the Lylatian colonists. The wildlife was no better—baseball-sized mosquitoes, for instance, could suck an unwary person dry of blood, in addition to the myriads of smaller insects attacking you every step of the way. In short, anyone crazy enough to be living here must have some screws loose.

But to Wolf, that green ball looked like the most beautiful sight in the universe right now, like an emerald shining in the darkness of space. While they refueled Wolf planned to give everyone a well-deserved rest here. They'd need the rejuvenation for the final leg of the journey to Katina. Papetoon to Fortuna was the easy part. But from here on out the Cornerian Navy would be a much more common sight, so they'd need to stay that much more alert.

"Man," George flicked a few switches next to the flight stick. "Can't wait to stretch my legs and walk around some… and I'd also like to eat something that didn't come out of a can or a box."

"Amen to that." Wolf rested his hand on the headrest of George's seat. They'd gone through all their fresh food days ago, subsisting on nothing but processed and canned food for days now. There was no way Wolf could stomach another meal of dried Slam meat, tasteless beans, and mushy tapioca pudding right now. "So where are you taking us down there? It better have a nice place to eat." Wolf had the image of a quadruple-stacked cheeseburger in his head, with four or five regular burgers as a side dish.

George turned back to the radar screen. "Place is called the Boneyard."

"Why's it got a name like that?"

"It used to be a spaceship graveyard for Corneria but they abandoned it decades ago. A bunch of squatters moved in and Corneria didn't care much about kicking them out. They had bigger fish to fry. Like dealing with our old boss."

Wolf smirked at that. He kept forgetting he'd been under that ape's employ until just recently. Aside from the income and getting a shot at Star Fox though, he didn't miss Andross at all.

What happened to Pigma, Leon, and Andrew though? Were they rotting in a Cornerian jail somewhere right now? Or dead? Wolf thought about his teammates on and off again since leaving Venom, but now he realized he didn't feel that concerned about any of them. Andrew couldn't fly worth shit. The only reason he got on Star Wolf in the first place was dear old ' _Uncle Androoooooss_ '. No great loss if that monkey was dead or in prison. Pigma was pretty good. Why not? He impressed James McCloud enough to make it onto Star Fox. However, Pigma also proved himself a traitor by betraying James to Andross, so Wolf didn't trust him any further than he could throw him. That wasn't very far, considering that pig's girth.

Leon was a different story. Always cold-blooded and rational even in the heat of battle, amazing pilot, skilled spy and infiltrator, master of interrogation and torture, and a healthy degree of loyalty to Wolf himself. Yet Wolf didn't feel worried about him. If anybody could worm his way out of avoiding capture, it would be Leon. So all in all, not a whole lot to worry about as far as those three were concerned.

However, Wolf did need to think about who would fill the vacant spots in Star Wolf once the dust settled. He looked down at George as the monkey piloted the ship down to the planet. Wolf did like the kid. Hard worker, honest guy, skilled with engineering and repairs… It'd be nice having him around. Maybe not as a fighter, but as support staff. George could handle the bills, ship maintenance, resource management, planning… Then again, Wolf looked at George's face with its bright, innocent eyes. Well, they weren't really innocent anymore now, were they? George did kill that cop back in Ruvac, and Wolf knew he didn't want to see any more of that.

Such a shame. Not many good, honest people gravitated towards the mercenary lifestyle after all. Well, aside from that pup McCloud and his crew. Wolf wouldn't admit this to anyone else, but he felt jealous of McCloud holding together his team with nothing but the power of friendship. It wasn't because Wolf wanted genuine friends, but because he bet friends cost a lot less than people whose loyalties only remained with the biggest paycheck—if Pigma hadn't already taught him that, years of experience did.

The floor vibrated underneath Wolf, breaking him out of his thoughts. He could hear the ship's engine sputtering for a moment, the glowing control panels fading dark for a second. But as soon as it started, the engine resumed its steady drone, the monitors holding their brightness steady.

"What was that?" Wolf looked at the controls, wondering if it would happen again.

"I don't know." George checked the diagnostics. "Ship's been acting up a bit for the past half hour or so. It hasn't done that before though."

Wolf looked over the monitors. At the moment, all of the indicators hovered in the green. The lupine waited for a few minutes, but nothing more happened. All of a sudden he felt very grateful they were about to land.

"Well…" Wolf gave George a little pat on the back. "Let me know if you see anything weird. We'll be waiting back here for reentry." Turning around, he stepped back into the cargo bay, looking down at Rachel. She'd stopped crying, but Wolf could still see watery trails running through the stripes on her face.

Her ears perked up upon hearing his footsteps. "What'd George say?" She turned her head in his direction.

"We're almost there," Wolf squatted down to Rachel's eye level. "I think we'll be on the ground in about half an hour."

While still upset about her father, a smile crossed her face. She jumped forward and hugged Wolf around the neck, the lupine almost feeling the breath knocked out of him. He sure didn't expect her grip to be so strong. "I really wanna get off this ship. How long have we been stuck in here?"

Wolf smiled, patting her on the back. "I lost track. Maybe a week and a half?"

"What?" Rachel pulled back, looking Wolf in the face. "But it feels like it's been a million, billion years!"

The lupine chuckled at her exaggeration. "Can you wait about half an hour more?"

Rachel grumbled a bit, crossing her arms. "But I wanna get out now!"

"Tell you what… If you're patient and stay quiet, I'll see if we can get some ice cream when we land. How about that?"

"Ice cream?! Oh boy! I'd love that!"

"Well, then buckle in little princess." Wolf guided her back over to the bench, buckling her in for the landing. "We'll be there before you know it."

* * *

The shuttle descended through thick cloud cover after entering Fortuna's atmosphere, heat shield still smoldering from abrupt deceleration. Once they were on the other side not a sliver of blue could be seen through the gray overcast sky. While it wasn't raining now, it looked like a storm could start at any time. Wolf scanned the jungle below and soon spotted the Boneyard.

The wreck of a massive capital ship sat smack dab in the middle of the settlement, jutting out of the surrounding jungle like a big metallic mountain. Trees, vines, and other greenery covered parts of the ship, looking like they'd been growing up the sides for decades. Underneath the trees surrounding the main ship, Wolf caught glimpses of smaller craft rusting away alongside their big brother. Tiny dots not much bigger than his thumb could be seen wandering around between the wrecks, not much different from a regular small town.

Beyond the central 'mountain' Wolf spotted a large, muddy field that served as the space port. Numerous vessels of many sizes sat parked in the mud, although most of them looked ready to join the wrecks in the Boneyard. Not one of them looked newer than Wolf himself, their age betrayed by crudely-repaired bodywork and faded paint jobs. Oh well. Wolf supposed it just ran with the territory of these off-the-beaten-path, out-of-the-way towns they needed to use on the way to Katina. Within a few minutes, George guided the shuttle into an open landing space, the ship landing with a rough little bump.

Unbuckling himself, Wolf stepped back into the cargo bay, seeing Alvin getting off the bench. The gorilla stretched with his long arms, letting out a deep yawn. For the first time in days, Alvin smiled. "Feels good to be back on solid ground again."

"You can say that again!" George jumped over the cockpit's stairs, landing on the floor with a loud thump. "Come on Wolf! Let's open up the back door!" The monkey rushed over towards the exit ramp's button. Wolf grabbed him by the shirt collar, yanking him back; the monkey gagged for a second before regaining his footing. George glared back at Wolf as he was released. "Hey! What'd you do that for?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Wolf gestured towards his face.

George raised an eyebrow. "Uh…"

The lupine leaned over, whispering in his ear. "Hello… Most wanted criminal in Lylat here."

"Ooooh…" George's eyes widened. "Thanks. I totally forgot."

Wolf walked back towards the front of the cargo bay, opening up a clothes bag. On went the brown leather duster he'd pilfered from the store in Ruvac, as Wolf slipped it on over his black flight suit. Next, he pulled off his eyepatch, spotting George wincing at the eyeless socket underneath it. A pair of sunglasses replaced the patch. And for the final touch, Wolf slipped a wide-brimmed hat onto his head, adjusting it to cover the upper half of his face. Admittedly the disguise didn't amount to much, but Wolf thought it would be enough for the Boneyard.

"What are you doing, Wolf?" Rachel complained, feeling her way towards the backdoor where they stood. "I wanna go outside!"

"Don't worry, sweetie." Wolf looked in a mirror to get his hat at the right angle. "We're ready now. Hit it George."

George grinned as he pushed the button, the rear ramp descending with a soft mechanical whirr. A wave of warm humidity smacked Wolf in the face, making him curl his ears back. As he looked over the palm trees and the wrecked battleship in the distance, a rich aroma of exotic plants and flowers wafted into his nose, undercut by the dirty, industrial scent of starship exhaust. And damn did it feel hot out here wearing this duster, but Wolf supposed he'd just have to put up with it for now.

He turned his gaze downwards, frowning at the wet, squishy mud at the base of the ramp. They'd have to walk all the way to the town proper through this mud. Delightful. He supposed they should just get this overwith. Taking one step off the ramp, Wolf's black boot sunk an inch into the muck even without his full weight on it. Wolf grimaced at the sinking feeling, but pushed down. His boot sunk in all the way above the sole now. Then he put his other boot in the muck too, wincing at the squishy noises. So much for keeping his footwear a perfect mirror sheen.

Off in the distance a man approached their ship, wearing a faded blue jumpsuit stained with both oil and mud, his boots and lower pant legs caked in dirt. A long gray-brown snout stared out from under a red trucker hat, betraying the man's species as some sort of dog; floppy ears popped out of the hat's sides, and a skinny tail swished behind him.

Wolf gulped as the man came over to them. Now it was time to put his disguise to the test. Wolf mustered up his best smile as the dog approached.

"Howdy," the dog said in a twangy accent. He took Wolf's hand, giving it a firm shake. "Name's Samuel. Welcome to the Boneyard. What can I do for ya'll today?"

"Just a refuel and parking fees, thanks. Oh, and replace the latrine filters." Wolf turned away from Samuel to look at their shuttle, as an excuse to not look the dog in the face. "I think we'll be here for at least a few hours. Any place you recommend for a bite to eat?"

The dog chuckled. "What you feel like?"

"Burgers would be nice."

"Heh…" Samuel turned around and pointed the rusting capital ship jutting above the trees. "Head on inside our old gal over there, the B.C. _Gladius_. You're looking at the starboard side right now. Head on inside the nearest entrance and Ted's isn't far inside."

"Ted's?" Wolf raised an eyebrow.

Samuel chuckled. "Yeah, the name sucks, but you won't be disappointed. Trust me."

Wolf liked the dog's attitude. There never was much time for friendly banter while working for Andross. That big ape paid well, but he kept everyone marching, fighting and/or saluting him damn near 24/7. When was the last time Wolf got to just go out and get a burger anyway? He couldn't remember, not since the Lylat Wars kicked off. Venom didn't really do burger joints…

"I appreciate the advice, Sam."

"No problem. I'll take care of your ship. You can pay me for everything when you get back." And with that, Samuel walked away, probably to go fetch the needed supplies.

Meanwhile, Wolf heard squishy footsteps behind him. Turning around he spotted Alvin, George, and Rachel there, George holding Rachel's hand to guide her along.

"You found us a place to eat?" George asked.

"Sure did…anyone feel like Ted's?"

"Ted's?" Alvin narrowed his eyes.

"Heh, I thought the same thing, but I really don't care. I bet anything fresh will taste like filet mignon by this point. Let's get going!" Wolf turned around, leading them away from the shuttle.

"Hold on Wolf," Alvin said.

Wolf stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"Maybe one of us should stay behind to watch the ship." The gorilla smiled. "I can do it if you like."

"That's okay," Wolf smirked, patting a pocket on his duster. He'd put the ship's key in there. "It's not going anywhere. Besides, you've been stuck in there with us for several days. Why would you want to stay here?"

"Maybe you're right…" Alvin kept smiling, but something looked off about his eyes. He glanced at the pocket where Wolf put the key. "Anyway, glad to know you've got us in good hands."

"Wolf, are we gonna go eat now?" Rachel jumped up and down. "I'm starving! I wanna get a burger too! And this mud is icky, too!"

The lupine laughed, stepping over. "Then I think I'll give you a lift. Come on, I'll let you piggyback again."

Taking the kitten on his shoulders, the four of them started their long trek across the swampy ground. Wolf's shiny flight boots would be completely covered in mud at this rate, and yet he didn't mind that much. Getting off that ship put him in a really good mood. He could stretch his legs again after so many days, and breathe in fresh oxygen instead of the recycled stuff in their ship.

Soon they reached the town proper, the Boneyard living up to its name. Lining the mud bogs that passed for streets around here, wrecked ships lay scattered underneath the tree cover, most of them looking like they'd been there about as long as the _Gladius_. The citizens had repurposed almost all of them into buildings. A house that used to be a shuttle here, a used escape pod transformed into a fruit stand there, an old light freighter turned into a general store, a bunch of scrap metal which almost certainly looked like dual-purpose transatmospheric wings and radiators now serving as a shanty…

"Wow, this is something." George looked wide-eyed at everything around the town. "They sure know how to recycle around here. I've never seen anything like this before. Don't think I've seen an actual building since we got here."

"They probably don't have a choice," Wolf said. "I doubt many outsiders like us come this way. I mean, look at them."

Various species walked about on the roads, with not many vehicles in sight. Nearly everyone's clothing appeared to be about as beat up and used as the surroundings. The standard outfit seemed to be basic jumpsuits of various sorts, but nearly all of them seemed to have patches covering up tears and holes. And like Samuel, a healthy layer of dirt and mud covered everybody's clothes. Wolf wouldn't be surprised if they got just as dirty by the time they got out of here.

But he didn't mind too much. This town was just the quiet place they needed to rest. Heck, Wolf wondered if anyone around here even knew the Lylat Wars had been going on for the past five years. This place looked untouched by the conflict, its residents only concerned with their day-to-day lives.

Soon they reached the starboard entrance of the _Gladius_ , the huge ship towering over their heads and the tree cover. As they stepped inside, Wolf looked around in wonder. A big chunk of the _Gladius_ ' interior was gutted out, probably so the metal could be used as building materials elsewhere. That left the inside of the ship a huge, echoing atrium. Holes cut into the top of the ship allowed in natural sunlight, the improvised skylights covered with reinforced glass to keep out the elements. A gigantic maze of tents and tables filled the central open space, people displaying and calling out various wares to any passersby. Far more people hustled and bustled around in here compared to outside. The remaining parts of the upper floors lined the outer bulkhead of the ship, leaving behind multiple walkways looking down upon the big open space. Most of the upper floors seemed to be residential apartments; shops, restaurants, and other commercial establishments filled the lower levels.

"This is incredible…" George looked around again. "I've never seen anything like this. Almost like a mix of a shopping mall and an old bazaar."

They pushed their way through the crowd, Wolf looking around for Ted's. It didn't take long. On the ground floor and underneath the upper walkways, Wolf spotted a restaurant illuminated with a giant ' _TED'S_ ' sign, each letter from a different electric sign. In spite of the post-apocalypticish surroundings, whoever owned Ted's went to the trouble of making it look like an old-timey burger and malt shop. Checkered tiles covered the floor, although the colors varied all over the place, probably pulled from whatever sources were available. Faded-looking, torn-up red upholstery fleshed out the booths lining the walls. An ancient jukebox sat in the corner, playing hits from fifty or sixty-odd years ago.

The people around here seemed to love it though. Wolf, Alvin, George, and Rachel shouldered their way through the crowd to get in line. Diners filled all the tables in sight, and the line extended through the middle of this bustling place. At last they made it to the counter, where a brown boar manned the cash register. He wore a grease-stained shirt, apron, and bus boy hat. Busy cooks worked the grills behind him, flames shooting up every now and then. The air tingled with the sizzle and smell of cooking meat. Wolf licked his lips in anticipation, trying to not let saliva drool out of his mouth.

"Hey there mister! I'm Ted! Welcome to my little place!" The boar grinned at Wolf. "So what can I get for you, your two monkey friends, and your little lady there?"

Again, Wolf couldn't help but find the attitude of these people contagious. He smiled as he looked at the menu board overhead. "Uh… I guess I'll take two number fours, extra serving of susee bacon on both." Wolf turned to the girl on his back. "Rachel? What do you feel like?"

"Just get me a normal burger, that'll be OK."

"Okay… get her a number one. George? Alvin?" He stepped aside to let them order.

"Hmm…" George took a moment to scan the menu, his eyes narrowing as he looked over the choices. He didn't look pleased. After a minute or so, George sighed. "Eh, you got a veggie burger or salads or something? Somethin' not covered in grease?"

The boar let out a deep belly laugh. "What? You think this is McHappy's or something? With salads and Frappuccino machines and Grapefruit computers and kiddie toys from that Frigid movie?"

George shook his head in defeat. "Okay fine… Number three, hold the mayo."

Alvin stepped up next. "Number five…extra cheese please."

Wolf paid Ted once their order got confirmed. Receipt in hand, Wolf scanned the restaurant, but still couldn't see any empty tables. "Looks like we're eating standing up."

The four of them walked over to a nearby wall and leaned against it. Before long the bus boy called out their number, Wolf running over to grab several brown paper bags. As he passed out the bags, everybody tore into them. All of them gulped down the burgers and fries like they were nectar from heaven. Even George didn't bother complaining anymore. After so many days of nothing but canned food, this fast food all tasted so damn good. The sizzled meat with the season salt, the warm bread, the melted cheese, the golden fries… Nothing was said between them for several minutes, unless you counted the scarfing and gulping sounds.

Soon, Wolf only had half a burger left. Grinning, he just tossed it into his large mouth and swallowed it in one bite. He didn't care he was eating too fast. In fact… "I'm going for seconds. Anybody want some?"

"Me!" Rachel threw up her hand.

"Me too!" Alvin and George said in unison.

Wolf smirked at them. "Be back soon."

He turned to rejoin the line to the counter—but then Wolf heard the chatter of a comms device echoing in the atrium outside. Narrowing his eyes, Wolf walked over to the restaurant's entrance and looked out over the open space. His blood ran cold. Cornerian soldiers, decked out with full green body armor and laser rifles, made their way through the crowds, scanning the faces of whoever they passed by. They occasionally stopped to speak into their headsets, getting static-filled responses back over their radios. Wolf could only think of one thing: _They're looking for me_.

Wolf spun around, bolting back inside Ted's. He rushed through the diner, barreling through a white weasel carrying a tray full of burgers and fries. The tray crashed to the floor, burgers flying apart in midair and splattering ketchup, mayo, and other toppings all over nearby patrons. Angry cries and shouts rose up amongst the diners. Wolf didn't care. He rushed back to the space on the wall where he'd left the others. They looked to be almost done, Rachel and Alvin licking their fingertips.

"We've got to go! Now!"

The three of them looked up, surprised.

"But we just got here!" Rachel said.

"I said we have to go!" Wolf yanked Rachel right off the floor, holding her in his arms. "Back to the shuttle now!"

The kitten gasped at the surprise movement. "Wolf! What are you—?!"

"Sshhh!" Wolf stuck a paw over her mouth, looking back towards the open air market.

He could see one Cornerian grunt wandering over to the burger shop, attracted by the scene Wolf created with that overturned food tray. The soldier would see them if they tried going out the front. Looking around, Wolf spotted a door marked ' _Employees Only_ ', the words written in faded black marker. He gestured towards the door, pushing his way through it without waiting to see if Alvin or George followed. A room full of shelves greeted him on the other side, the racks stacked with paper cups, napkins, plates, and trays. A single dim bulb hanging from the ceiling provided the only light.

After Alvin stepped in, George quietly shut the door behind them. "Wolf," he whispered. "What are we doing in here?"

Before he could answer, muffled voices could be heard back inside the restaurant. "…yeah…saw them go in there."

George's eyes shot open. That gave him all the explanation needed.

Feeling his hair standing on end, Wolf scanned the room. No other exits in sight. He stepped towards the other end of the room, looking behind the last shelf. Hallelujah! Another door was hidden back here. Without hesitating, he charged straight for it, pushing it open with one hand and holding Rachel with the other. A rusty metallic corridor greeted them on the other side, random boxes and bits of trash scattered about on the floor. Wolf guessed this was some kind of back corridor for deliveries.

Thinking on the fly, Wolf decided to head left. "This way!" He ran down the hallway, his boots clomping on the floor. He could hear Alvin and George right behind him, moving in step. They passed by numerous other doors, but Wolf decided to stick to the hall. Looked like nobody was back here, and Wolf thought they might run into more Cornerian soldiers if they took a wrong door. An aging sign from the ship's spacefaring days indicated that Cargo Bay 2 was ahead. That sounded good to Wolf. It might have an external door for loading cargo. Of course, whether the door still worked was another matter, but they couldn't afford to be choosy right now.

Steaming ahead, Wolf charged through the double doors at the end of the corridor, stepping into a giant, dark space that could only be the cargo bay. A handful of fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting long shadows in the echoing space. Haphazard stacks of rusted barrels, containers, and shelves lay pressed against the walls, like someone decided this room needed to be more open but couldn't be bothered to properly clean it out.

 _And I don't see any more doors…_

Wolf walked to the center of the room, scanning the area a little more closely. _Wait, there's one._ He spied two heavy metallic rolling doors, the two halves joined together in the middle with jagged metal teeth. A faded warning sticker across the two of them declared ' _CAUTION: VACUUM_ '. This had to be a way outside, but these doors didn't look like they'd been opened in years. While probably painted white in years past, the rust on the doors had long since turned them orange, the corrosion heavy around the rollers and joints.

Echoes of clattering footsteps filled the corridor outside the cargo bay, radio chatter accompanying the sounds of their pursuers. Wolf looked back towards the hallway's door, tail curled up between his legs and ears flat in fright. He felt like a feral animal trapped in a cage. But then a clang interrupted his thoughts. Looking back at the vacuum-sealed door, Wolf spotted George opening an access panel next to it. The monkey scanned the various wires and fuses inside the compartment. But the footsteps outside the room kept getting closer, the voices becoming more distinct.

"…they go right?"

"No…this way maybe…"

Wolf stepped over to George, who looked deep in concentration. The lupine just watched, praying the monkey knew what he was doing. George slid a fuse out of one of the slots. The lights in the room went out. However, Wolf heard a clicking noise as George slid the fuse into another slot. A glowing red button lit up next to the loading door.

"Here goes nothing," George whispered, pushing the button.

A rotating yellow light flicked on above the door, as a whirring noise hummed behind the wall. That sounded encouraging, but then a loud screech filled the air, Wolf peeling his ears back and snarled at the noise. Rachel flipped out in his hands, screaming and trying to wriggle out of his grasp. But the cargo door slowly—very slowly—grinded open with each passing second. Daylight started to stream in through the opening portal.

"Hurry up, damn it!" Wolf growled at the door's slow pace. Meanwhile he glanced at the door to the hall, expecting groups of soldiers to be pouring in any second. When a minute elapsed, the door only managed to open less than a foot wide. They couldn't afford to wait any longer.

"Rachel!" Wolf set her down on the floor. "Squeeze through now!"

"Wha? Why?"

"We're being chased by bad guys and you're the smallest here! Just go!" Wolf pushed her towards the doors.

She did as she was told, passing through the gap with no trouble. George was the next smallest, so he squeezed through next…and then he got stuck. Wolf could feel his heart pounding at the sight, but with a grunt the monkey managed to pop through to the other side.

That left Wolf and Alvin, but the two of them stood a lot taller and wider compared to George and Rachel. The door would need to open up more before they could get through. Meanwhile, Wolf felt himself sweating bullets as the seconds ticked past. Just when he thought it was big enough, Wolf leaped for the door. Then he collided with Alvin, who'd made a move for the gap first. The gorilla soon found himself stuck partway through, the door still not open enough for him yet.

"Alvin!" Wolf tried to pull him back inside. "I've gotta go first! You're bigger than me!"

Alvin ignored him, still trying to push through. On the other side of the door, George yanked on Alvin's arm to pull him outside, creating an awkward game of tug-of-war.

"Let me go, Wolf!" Alvin hollered out.

Realizing he was just making things worse, Wolf did so. And then the gorilla fell out of the opening, landing on top of George as he did so. It would have been funny, except—

"In here!" someone behind Wolf called out. He spared one more glance to the room's entrance, but then hopped through the expanding opening. Within a moment, he was through, standing back out in the sunlight again with the jungle and palm trees surrounding him. Quite a shocking transition, but they couldn't rest here.

"I saw someone go through there!" a voice echoed from inside the cargo bay.

That was enough for Wolf. He snatched Rachel off the ground and they all took off running, not looking back. Before long they'd been swallowed up by the jungle surrounding the _Gladius_ , but Wolf kept running and running for what felt like at least a mile before he thought it was safe to slow down. He sat Rachel back on the ground, exhausted from carrying her extra weight while sprinting. He rested against a tree trunk, panting with his tongue lolling out. Alvin and George looked just as tired, leaning against a tree. Once Wolf recovered, he glared over at George.

"I thought you said this town was safe, George. Isolated. Not worthy of—" Wolf caught himself, looking down at Rachel. "—of Venom's attention." George looked like a deer in the headlights, not saying anything as he took a step back from Wolf. The lupine had all manner of harsh things he wanted to shout at the monkey right now, but decided it could wait for later. "Never mind. Let's just get back to the shuttle and leave. It should be ready by now."

The four of them walked the long way back to the shuttle, skirting the town through the jungle surrounding it. Tired, afraid, and exhausted, the sight of their white shuttle parked on the mud was a welcome sight. All they had to do was pay Samuel and leave now. Wolf wondered how he'd find Samuel… only to notice the dog standing there. He had the shuttle's engine panel open and was inspecting something inside of it.

Wolf got a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw that. Nonetheless, he walked up to the mechanic. "Hey—Samuel. It's us. You refuel the ship? Are we good to go?"

The dog turned around to look at them, a grim look on his face. "Well, I was going to fuel you up, but before I did that I noticed something here." He waved at the exposed engine. "Not good news, I'm afraid. Where have you been getting your fuel from?"

"Uh…." Wolf struggled to think up an explanation.

Nonetheless, Samuel withdrew some sort of component out of the engine to show to Wolf. Black ooze trickled off of the part, the metal stained a smoky black. "You put some junk in your tank here, whatever you did. I think you may have used expired fuel, or the wrong kind, or something like that. Anyway, that fuel gunked up the inside of your engine. I wouldn't recommend flying out of here in this state. I'm gonna have to flush your system, and then I'm going to have to either clean or replace all the affected components."

Wolf felt afraid to ask, but… "How long will that take?"

"Well…" Samuel chewed his lip, looking at the engine and formulating a figure in his head. "Maybe about a day I guess, but—"

"That sounds great!" Wolf reached for his wallet. "Just tell me what it'll cost."

"Hey, hold on son." Samuel held up his hands. "I've got a backlog right now. I won't be able to get to yours for at least three days, so it's really gonna be more like four or five days."

Four or five days… stuck at this miserable little place with Cornerians hunting for them?

"Well, what if I paid extra to go to the front of the line?"

Samuel shook his head. "No, I don't do that kind of thing. I stick to the schedule I promise my customers. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait."

"Are there any other mechanics around here then?"

"Yeah, there's a few, but you won't have much better luck with them. We're all swamped with work right now, especially with these Cornerian jarheads in our neck of the woods. We're doing work on their ships too, since they don't have their own mechanics out here right now."

Wolf narrowed his eye at the mention of the Cornerians. On the other hand, this gave him an opportunity to ask a question. "Why are they here?"

"Before the war ended Andross sent a detachment of his soldiers down here to Fortuna. They're hiding out in the jungle. Been causing trouble for us ever since, even though the war's over. Those Venomians have been stealing things from the town, or hijacking ships to get off world. It's such a big problem the Cornerian Army sent us some soldiers to help keep the peace. I'm real grateful for them, I can tell you." Samuel smiled, wiping his hands on a dirty white cloth. "Making about triple the money I normally do while Corneria keeps us safe."

Meanwhile Wolf was staring off to the side, a low growl in his throat.

"Something wrong, sir?"

Wolf didn't hear him, feeling a burning feeling rising up from his stomach to his head. The lupine didn't feel scared now. He felt angry. Stuck in the middle of this swamp with a busted ship, plus Cornerian soldiers everywhere ready to arrest him. Felt like a cruel cosmic joke.

"Are you okay?" Samuel touched his shoulder.

Wolf spun around, snarling at Samuel with his teeth on full display.

The dog stumbled backwards, almost falling into the mud. Realizing what he must look like right now, the lupine shut his mouth, bowing down. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"Uh…" Samuel dusted himself off. "I-it's okay. I can understand if you're upset. Who likes getting stranded after all, right?" He let out a nervous laugh.

Wolf didn't respond, still glaring at the ground.

"Tell you what, maybe I can help find you a place to stay since you'll be stuck here for a while. How does that sound? I'll even give you a ride in my truck." Samuel pointed to a beat-up pickup truck behind him, the rear bed loaded with parts and tools for ship repair.

Wolf blinked, looking back up at the dog. As angry as he was, the lupine supposed there wasn't much he could do about this situation right now. Like it or not, they were going to be stuck in this town for a few days, and they'd need to figure out a way to keep hidden from the Cornerian patrols in the meantime. Wolf knew he couldn't do that if he was too busy being angry. Sighing in defeat, he said "Okay then. Lead the way…"

* * *

 _A/N: Been about eight months since I've updated this story, hasn't it? Hope you guys didn't mind the long wait. I deliberately wrote this chapter in such a way that it references multiple past events of this story. If you've looked at this story in the past, I wanted to make it easier for you to get caught back up again. I hope it helps._

 _I had a really fun time creating the Boneyard and the characters in it, and I'm looking forward to having a couple of chapters in this setting. I still have some more characters to introduce, and some of them may be familiar to you. You'll see :)_

 _On a side note, I needed to come up with an excuse for Wolf and the others to not leave the Boneyard so quickly. I decided I'd do it via something breaking on their ship, and low quality fuel gumming up the works seemed like the perfect reason to me. They did just take whatever fuel they could find back on Ruvac, didn't they? :P You can't just put any old junk in your car and expect it to run, right?_

 _I've had fuel system problems with my Miata before, and that's where I got this idea from. Years later, I can still remember my mechanic holding up a vial of a clear liquid. When he shook it, I could see all these small particles floating in it. "This is the gasoline that was in your car," he said. "And those particles are from the inside of your fuel pump." My fuel pump was eating itself alive. You can imagine the look on my face, and the repair bill…_

 _Anyway, so sorry for the terrible long wait. And if you're someone who's just seen this story on the front page after my update and decided to read it, welcome! I'd be glad to hear from you, so please drop a review._


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